' 

LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Class        "Mi 

/       ^ 

eniD 


in  Miie  Hijti  German 


A  DISSERTATION 

PRESENTED   TO   THE  BOARD   OF   UNIVERSITY  STUDIES 

OF   THE  JOHNS    HOPKINS    UNIVERSITY   FOR   THE 

DEGREE    OF   DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY, 


BY 


FRED  COLE   HICKS. 


BALTIMORE: 

JOHN    MURPHY    COMPANY, 

1902. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOK. 

Prefatory 5 

Sources  and  Texts 7 

Introduction 12 

ViL 15 

Harte 28 

Gar 49 

WoL 57 

Eehte 63 

Genuoc 69 

Sere 74 

Starke 76 

Ad 77 

Michel 78 

Grimme 78 

Strengthening  Particles  with  Comparatives 79 

Summary  by  Dialects 81 

Strengthening  Particles  in  the  Different  Classes  of  Litera- 
ture   82 

Biographical  Sketch 87 


127174 


STRENGTHENING  MODIFIERS  OF  ADJECTIVES 
AND  ADVERBS  IN  MIDDLE  HIGH  GERMAN. 


PREFATORY. 


In  the  following  pages  a  study  of  the  use  of  strengthening 
modifiers  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  during  the  classical  Middle 
High  German  period,  or  from  about  1150  to  1300,  is  attempted. 
Such  devices  being  so  largely  unconscious,  and  at  the  same  time 
so  subject  to  fashion,  we  may  expect  to  find  a  certain  consistency 
in  their  use,  and  to  see  in  them  marks  of  style,  sometimes  of 
the  individual,  but  more  often  of  different  schools  and  classes  of 
literature.    They  seem  therefore  well  worthy  of  special  treatment. 

Aside  from  the  thesis  of  H.  Z.  Kip,^  which  is  limited  to  the 
religious  poetry  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  and  which 
treats  the  subject  more  from  the  standpoint  of  the  lexicographer, 
no  such  treatment  has  been  given.  What  little  has  been  done 
on  the  subject  is  to  be  found  in  the  dictionaries,  and  scattered 
through  the  notes  in  the  various  editions  of  the  works  of  this 
period.  That  the  material  there  offered  is  inadequate,  and  the 
statement  of  facts  often  erroneous,  is  apparent  to  one  who  takes 
but  a  casual  glance  into  the  subject,  or  who  will  but  compare 
the  notes  of  the  different  editors. 

During  the  investigation  which  has  formed  the  basis  of  this 
study,  such  questions  as  the  following  have  been  kept  in  mind, 
in  the  case  of  each  of  the  words  which  may  be  classed  as 
strengthening  particles,  viz  :  1 .  The  origin  and  development 
of  meaning  of  the  word.  2.  In  what  dialects  and  for  what 
periods  is  it  current?  3.  In  what  classes  of  literature  is  it 
found,  or  in  what  classes  is  it  the  most  frequent?  4.  With 
what  classes  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  is  it  used?     5.   Is  it  a 

^Zur  Geschichte  der  Steigerungsadverbien  in  der  deutschen  geistlichen 
Dichtung  des  11.  und  12.  Jahrhunderts,  (Leipzig  Dissertation)  Journ.  of 
Germ.  Phil.,  vol.  in,  p.  143  ff. 

1  6 


6  Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

part  of  the  popular  dialect,  or  is  it  confined  to  literary  or  poetical 
diction?  6.  Are  there  any  signs  of  its  becoming  obsolete? 
7.    The  peculiarities  of  individual  writers,  if  any. 

Not  all  of  the  literature  of  this  period  has  been  examined, 
as  that  seemed  neither  necessary  nor  feasible.  The  works  which 
were  selected  for  exhaustive  treatment,  however,  are  such  as 
may  be  considered  fairly  representative  of  the  different  classes 
of  literature  during  the  period,  and  are  numerous  enough  to 
warrant  the  drawing  of  general  conclusions. 

For  the  purpose  of  statistics,  the  different  forms  of  the  same 
word  to  which  a  strengthening  particle  is  joined  (as  for  instance, 
wd,  ndah,  ndhe,  ndhen)  are  grouped  together,  and  no  distinction 
is  made  between  the  adjective  and  the  adverbial  use  of  the  same 
word.  This  plan  has  been  adopted  on  the  assumption  that 
the  choice  of  a  strengthening  particle  with  any  author  is  not 
dependent  on  the  form  or  grammatical  use  of  the  word  to  be 
strengthened.  In  the  examples  which  are  given,  the  more  usual 
form  of  the  word,  and  in  the  case  of  adjectives,  the  uninflected 
form,  appears.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  preserve  the 
orthography  of  the  different  editions,  except  where  direct  cita- 
tions are  made. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  Germcm, 


SOURCES  AND  TEXTS. 

The  following  works  have  served  as  sources.  They  are 
arranged  under  the  different  dialects,  as  far  as  may  be  deter- 
mined, in  chronological  order,  the  classification  and  dating  being 
that  of  the  various  editors,  PauPs  Grundriss,  and  Michels' 
Mittelhochdeutsches  Elementarbuch.  The  works  have  been 
examined  exhaustively,  except  as  may  be  indicated  for  some 
of  the  longer  ones.^ 

Alemannic. 

1.   Poetical  monuments. 

a)  Lower  Alemannic. 

Reinmar  von  Hagenau,  Des  Minneeangsfriihling,  p.  150  ff. 
Gottfried  von  Strassburg,  Tristan,  ed.  by  Bechstein,  Leipzig 

1890. 
Konrad  Fleck,  Flore  und  Blanscheflur,  ed.  by  Emil  Sommer, 

Quedlinburg  1846. 
Die  Gute  Frau,  ed.  by  the  same,  ZfdA  2,  385  ff. 
Volmar,  Das  Steinbuch,  ed.  by  Lambel,  Heilbronn  1877. 
Konrad  von  Wiirzburg, 

Der  Trojanische  Krieg  (10,000),  ed.  by  A.  von  Keller, 

Stuttgart,  1858. 
Keiser  Otte  mit  dem  Barte,  ed.  by  K.  A.  Hahn,  Qued- 

linb.-Leipzig  1838. 
Alexius,  ed.  by  Richard  Henczynski,  Berlin  1898. 
Hugo  von  Langenstein,  Martina  (10,000),  ed.  by  A.  von 

Keller,  Stuttgart  1856. 
Reinfried   von   Braunschweig  (10,000),   ed.    by   Bartsch, 

Stuttgart  1871. 
Peter  von  Stauffenberg,  ed.  by  Edw.  Schroder,  Zwei  Alt- 

deutsche  Rittermaeren,  Berlin  1894. 

b)  Upper  Alemannic. 
Rudolf  von  Ems, 

Der  Gute  Gerhard,  ed.  by  Haupt,  Leipzig  1840. 

*  The  figures  in  parentheses  after  any  title  indicate  the  number  of  lines  of 
that  particular  monument  which  have  been  considered. 


8         Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Barlaam  und  Josaphat  (10,000),  ed.  by  Pfeiffer,  Leipzig 

1843. 
Johannes    Hadlaub,   ed.    by   Bartsch,   Biblioth.   Aelterer 

Schriftwerke  der  deutschen  Schweiz,  vol.  vi,  283  ff. 
2.   Prose. 

Altdeutsche  Predigten,  ed.  by  Wackernagel,  (sermons  1-13,> 

18-20,  27-35,  42-52)  IBasel  1876. 
Predigten  des   13.  Jahrhunderts,  ed.  by  Grieshaber  (100 

pages),  Stuttgart  1844-46. 
Predigt  auf  Johannes  den  Taufer,  Germania,  35. 

Bavarian- Austrian. 

1.    Poetical  monuments. 
a)  Bavarian. 

Albreht  von  Johannsdorf,  MF  XII. 

Wolfdietrich  B,  bearbeitet  von  Oskar  Janicke,  Deutsche^ 

Heldenbuch,  vol.  iii,  Berlin  1871. 
Wolfram  von   Eschenbach,   Parzival,  ed.   by   Lachmann^ 

Berlin  1891. 
Neidhart  von  Reuenthal,  ed.  by  Haupt,  Leipzig  1858. 
Wernher  der  Gartenaere,  Helmbreht,  ed.  by  Keinz,  Leipzig 

1887. 
Die  Warnung,  ed.  by  Haupt,  ZfdA  1,  438  flP. 
Lamprecht  von  Regensburg,  S.  Francisken  Leben,  ed.  by 

Weinhold,  Paderborn  1880. 
Eeinbot  von  Durne,  Der  Heilige  Georg,  ed.  by  F.  Vetter^ 

Halle  1896. 
Der  Jiingere  Titurel  (2800),  ed.  by  K.  A.  Hahn,  Quedlin- 

burg  1842. 
Lohengrin  (5000),  ed.  by  Riickert,  Quedlinb.-Leipzig  1858. 
h)  Austrian. 

Die  Hochzeit,  ed.  by  Waag,  Kleinere  deutsche  Gedichte 

des  XL  und  XII.  Jahrhunderts,  Halle  1890. 
Genesis  und  Exodus,  nach  der  Milstater  Handschrift,  ed. 

by  J.  Diemer,  Vienna  1862. 
Die  Biicher  Mosis,  ed.  by  the  same,  Deutsche  Gedichte 

des  XL  und  XII.  Jahrhunderts. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,         9 

Enticrist,  ed.  by  Hoffmann,  Fundgruben  II,  102  ff. 
Xonrad  von  Fussesbrunn,  Kindheit  Jesu,  ed.  by  Kochen- 

dorffer,  Quellen  und  Forschungen,  43. 
Der  Nibelunge  N6t^  (with  reference  to  versions  A,  B,  and  C), 

ed.  by  Bartsch,  Leipzig  1870-80. 
Biterolf  und  Dietleib,  ed.  by  Janicke,  DHB  vol.  i. 
Ortnit,  ed.  by  Amelung  and  Janicke,  DHB  vol.  ill. 
Wolfdietrich  A  and  C,  by  the  same. 
Kudrun,  ed.  by  B.  Symons,  Halle  1883. 
Walther  von  der  Yogelweide,^  ed.  by  Lachmann,  Berlin 

1891. 
Der  Strieker,  Karl  der  Grosse  (10,000),  ed.  by  Bartsch, 

Quedlinburg  1857. 
Freidank,  Bescheidenheit,  ed.  by  Bezzenberger,  Halle  1872. 
Heinrich  von  dem  Tiirlin,  Din  Krone  (10,000),  ed.  by 

Scholl,  Stuttgart  1852. 
Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein  (7285),  ed.  by  Lachmann,  Berlin 

1841. 
Der  Pleier,  Garel  von  dem  bliihenden  Tal  (10,000),  ed.  by 

Walz,  Freiburg  1892. 
Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg,  ed.  by  Zingerle,  Innsbruck  1878. 
Ulrich  von  Eschenbach,  Alexander  (10,000),  ed.  by  Wen- 

delin  Toischer,  Tubingen  1888. 
%    Prose. 

Berthold  von  Eegensburg  (vol.  1,  155  pp.,  vol.  2,  53  pp.), 

ed.  by  Pfeiffer  and  Strobl,  Vienna  1862-80. 
Altdeutsche  Predigten,  Wackernagel,  (sermons  21-26). 
Altdeutsche  Predigten  aus  dem  Benedictinerstifte  St.  Paul  us, 

ed.  by  A.  Jeitteles. 

SWABIAN. 

Wernhers  Maria,  Fundgruben  II,  145  ff. 
Meinloh  von  Soflingen,  MF  II. 
Bernger  von  Horheim,  MF  XIV. 
Heinrich  von  Bugge,  MF  XIII. 

^The  dictionary  of  this  edition  was  used  for  statistics  as  to  strengthening 
f)articles. 

^  Hornig's  Glossar  zu  Walth.  was  used  for  data. 


10       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

Hartmann  vod  Aue/ 

Lyrics,  MF  XXI. 

Erec,  ed.  by  Haupt,  Leipzig  1871. 

Erstes  Buclilein,^  ed.  by  Bech,  Leipzig  1871-3. 

Gregoriiis,  ed.  by  Paul,  Halle  1882. 

Der  Arme  Heinrich,  ed.  by  the  same. 

Iwein,^  ed.  by  Henrici,  Halle  1891. 

Zweites  Biichlein,*  ed.  by  Bech,  as  above. 
Gottfried  von  Neifen,  ed.  by  Haupt,  Leipzig  1851. 
Ulrich  Schenk  von  Winterstetten,  ed.  by  Minor,  Vienna  1882. 
Der  Marner,  ed.  by  Strauch,  QuF  14. 
Der  Kosengarten  A,  ed.  by  Georg  Holz,  Halle  1893. 
Wolfdietrich  D,  ed.  by  Amelung  and  Janicke,  DHB  vol.  4. 
Prose. 

Bruder  David  von  Augsburg,  ed.  by  Pfeiffer  ZfdA  9. 

East  Feankish. 

Konrad  von  Heimesfurt,  Himmelfahrt  Mariae,  ed.  by  Pfeiffer, 

ZfdA  8,  166  ff. 
Wirnt  von  Gravenberg,  Wigalois,  der  Ritter  mit  dem  Eade 

(10,000),  ed.  by  Benecke,  Berlin  1819. 
Der  Winsbeke  and  Die  Winsbekin,  ed.  by  Leitzmann,  Halle 

1888. 
Hugo  von  Trimberg,  Der  Renner  (5000),  herausgegeben  vom 

historischen  Yerein  in  Bamberg,  1833. 

South  Fjrankish. 

Moriz  von  Craon,  ed.  by  Schroder,  Zwei  altdeutsche  Ritter- 

maeren,  Berlin  1894. 
Reinmar  von  Zweter,  ed.  by  Gustav  Roethe,  Leipzig  1887. 

^  Vos,  Diction  and  Kime-Technic  of  Hartman  von  Aue,  was  referred  to  for 
verification  of  data  for  Hartmann. 

^  For  the  Biichlein  the  edition  of  Haupt-Martin,  Leipzig  1881  was  compared. 

'  The  dictionary  of  Benecke- Wilken  was  used  for  data  for  Iwein. 

*  The  study  of  strengthening  particles  has  brought  to  light  no  diflference  of 
diction  which  would  warrant  excluding  the  Zw.  Biichl.  from  the  works  of 
Hartmann.  For  points  of  similarity  see  under  Starke,  p.  76;  Verre,  p.  80  j 
and  Wol,  p.  63. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       11 

West  Middle  German. 

a)  Moselfrankish. 

Vorau  Alexander,  ed.  by  Kinzel,  Halle  1884. 

Das  Rolandslied,  ed.  by  Bartsch,  Leipzig,  1874. 

Konig  Rother,  ed.  by  K.  von  Bahder,  Halle,  1884. 

Orendel,  ed.  by  Arnold  E.  Berger,  Bonn  1888. 

Strassburg  Alexander,  ed.  by  Kinzel  as  above. 

Sanct  Brandan,  ed.  by  Carl  Schroder,  Erlangen  1871. 
h)  Rhinefrankish. 

Friedrichvon  Hansen,  ed.  by  Lachmann-Haupt,  MF  p.  42  ff. 
c)  Hessian. 

Athis  und  Prophilias,  ed.  by  W.  Grimm,  Kl.  Schr.  3,  212  ff. 

Herbort  von  Fritslar,  Liet  von  Troye,  ed.  by  Frommann, 
Quedlinb.-Leip.  1837. 

Die  Erlosung,  ed.  by  Bartsch,  Quedlinb.-Leip.  1858. 

Elisabeth,  ed.  by  Rieger,  Stuttgart. 

Thuringian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Heinrich  von  Morungen,  MF  p.  122  ff. 

Ebernand  von  Erfurt,  Heinrich  und  Kunigunde,  ed.  by 

Bechstein,  Quedlinb.-Leip.  1860. 
Heinrich  von  Krollwitz,  Das  Vater  Unser,  ed.  by  Lisch, 

Quedlinb.-Leip.  1839. 
Der  Sunden  Widerstreit,  ed.  by  Zeidler,  Graz  1892. 
Heinrich  von  Meissen,  ed.  by  Ettmiiller,  Quedlinb.-Leip. 

1843. 
Heinrich  von  Freiberg,  Tristan  Fortsetzung,  ed.  by  von 

der  Hagen,  Gottfrieds  von  Strassburg  Werke,  Breslau 

1823. 
h)  Prose. 

Sermons  of  Eckard,  Wackernagel,  Altdeutsche  Predigten, 

55,  56,  60,  61. 


12       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 


INTRODUCTION. 

In  the  German  language  of  all  periods,  there  has  been  a  class 
of  words,  usually  the  most  common  adverbs,  which  in  addition 
to  their  usual  office  have  assumed  the  special  function  of  serving 
as  strengtheners  of  adjectives  and  other  adverbs.  This  special 
function  may  amount  in  some  cases  to  an  entirely  new  use  of 
the  word,  from  which  the  original  meaning  or  color  has  been 
wholly  obliterated.  Compare  for  example  Modern  German  sehry 
or  Middle  High  German  vil.  In  others,  some  trace  of  the  original 
force  of  the  words  may  be  retained,  as  in  Mod.  Germ,  gar  or 
recht,  MHG  harte.  To  this  class  of  words  in  general  the  term 
strengthening  modifier,  or  strengthening  particle  may  be  applied. 

All  such  usage  is  in  origin  metaphorical.  A  word  standing 
for  a  definite  adverbial  notion  is  applied  to  an  adjective  or  an 
adverb  for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  quality  which  it 
expresses ;  in  other  words,  the  attribute  of  one  class  of  ideas 
is  asserted  of  another.  If  it  is  applied  often  enough,  so  that 
we  forget  that  the  strengthening  word  has  any  special  significance 
of  its  own,  the  figure  loses  its  force,  or  color,  and  the  result  is 
a  faded  metaphor.  Strengthening  particles  then,  as  applied  to 
the  words  they  modify,  are  examples  of  faded  metaphors. 

With  some  of  these  strengthening  adverbs  in  Mod.  Germ., 
the  metaphorical  nature  of  the  figure  is  more  apparent  than  with 
others.  This  means  simply  that  the  original  force  of  the  word 
has  been  retained  longer  in  some  particles  than  in  others.  The 
same  is  true  for  the  MHG  period,  or  indeed  for  any  period  of 
the  language.  The  reason  for  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  word 
survives  in  the  language  in  some  other  usage,  and  this  it  is  that 
measures  the  real  strength  of  the  particle.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  original  meaning  of  the  word,  as  preserved  in  some  other 
usage,  be  present  to  the  mind,  in  order  that  the  force  of  the 
implied  comparison  be  felt.  Mod.  Germ,  gar  and  recht  are 
two  words  which  have  retained  their  freshness  and  force  as 
strengthening  particles  for  many  centuries  simply  because  they 
have  continued  current  also  as  adjectives  and  adverbs  of  manner. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.        13 

Oompare  gar  in  Bas  Brot  ist  nicht  gar,  and  in  gar  schony  reeht 
in  recht  froh,  and  reoht  as  a  simple  adjective.  Such  expressions 
as  these  are  pleasing  figures  because  the  aptness  of  the  com- 
parison is  at  once  felt. 

An  example  of  a  particle  with  persistent  individual  force  is 
to  be  found  in  MHG  s^re,  which  retained  for  the  most  part 
during  the  whole  period,  as  likewise  in  OHG,  the  notion  which 
was  associated  with  the  noun  das  str.  The  same  is  true  of 
English  sore,  which  had  a  limited  use  as  a  strengthening  particle/ 
Harte  is  a  similar  word.  Its  connection  with  harte  the  adverb 
of  manner,  and  hart  the  adjective,  colored  its  meaning,  and  made 
it  a  very  emphatic  particle  whenever  it  was  used  as  a  strengthener. 

In  all  such  cases  where  a  word  performs  a  double  function, 
and  serves  both  as  a  general  strengthening  particle  and  as  an 
adverb  of  manner,  it  is  but  natural  that  in  the  course  of  time 
it  should  become  obsolete  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  uses.  In 
the  case  of  s^re,  the  original  meaning  has  in  Mod.  Germ,  com- 
pletely disappeared,  and  the  word  survives  only  as  an  indefinite 
strengthening  particle.  Harte,  on  the  other  hand,  has  been  lost 
as  a  strengthening  particle,  except  in  a  few  isolated  expressions, 
as  hart  an,  hart  hinter,  etc.,  and  remains  as  an  adverb  of  manner 
and  as  an  adjective. 

From  their  very  nature,  it  is  evident  that  all  those  words 
which  should  be  classed  as  strengthening  particles,  must  be 
capable  of  general  application  to  adjectives  and  adverbs,  and 
recognizedly  so.  Their  use  must  extend  over  a  larger  field 
than  that  of  particular  instances.  It  is  of  little  importance 
stylistically  if  a  writer  or  speaker  uses  on  a  particular  occasion 
a  certain  word  to  strengthen  the  meaning  of  an  adverb,  as  for 
example,  in  the  following :  wir  sin  geschart  ad  kreftee  wol, 
Lohengrin  4844.  In  such  a  case  we  assume  that  the  author 
uses  the  expression  intentionally,  to  produce  a  certain  desired 
effect.  If,  however,  he  uses  the  word  in  this  way  so  often  that 
he  begins  to  do  it  unconsciously,  and  if  he  applies  it  to  a  large 
number  of  adverbs  whose  meaning  he  wishes  to  emphasize, 
then  we  cease  to  take  it  at  its  face  value,  and  the  word  is 
weakened  to  a  mere  indefinite  strengthening  particle. 

^And  they  were  Bore  afraid.     Luke  2 :  9. 


14       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

Indefiniteness  of  meaning  is  then  another  mark  of  the 
strengthening  particle.  For  the  purpose  of  accurate  classifica- 
tion, we  shall  have  to  exclude  many  words,  and  a  few  uses 
of  some  others,  which  are  commonly  considered  as  strengtheners 
of  adjectives  and  adverbs.  The  strengthening  of  an  adverbial 
or  any  other  notion  carries  with  it  the  assumption  that  the 
notion  is  capable  of  different  degrees  of  intensity.  The  word 
to  which  a  strengthening  particle  is  joined  must  be  one  express- 
ing an  idea  which  is  not  absolute  in  its  nature,  or,  expressing 
an  absolute  notion,  it  must  be  one  used  with  weakened  force. 
Such  particles  as  gar,  ganzj  al,  drdto,  alzoges,  etc.,  joined  to 
adjectives  or  adverbs  denoting  an  absolute  quality  do  not  come 
within  our  definition.  Such  expressions  as  gar  dne,  al  eine,  al  ze 
mdlj  while  in  a  certain  loose  sense  they  may  be  said  to  be 
stronger  than  the  same  adjectives  would  be  without  the  modifiers, 
are  not  really  strengthened  by  the  particles.  The  qualities 
expressed  by  dne,  erne,  etc.,  mean  no  more  than  before,  the 
limits  within  which  they  apply  are  only  extended.  If,  however, 
we  substitute  for  eine  instead  of  the  notion  loneness  the  feeling 
of  being  alone,  or  loneliness,  we  have  at  once  an  idea  capable  of 
different. degrees  of  intensity.  Vil  eine,  or  gar  eine,  then  in  this 
sense,  are  properly  examples  of  strengthening  particles.  It  is 
evident  that  all  such  adverbs  as  gar,  ganz,  al,  having  the  idea 
of  completeness  rather  than  to  a  high  degree,  when  applied  to 
adjectives  or  adverbs  expressing  an  absolute  quality  are  used 
in  their  real  not  in  their  figurative  sense. 

There  are  a  number  of  particles  which  have  become  so  closely 
connected  with  the  words  they  modify  as  to  be  considered 
inseparable  parts  of  the  expression  or  compound  word.  They 
are  usually  then  written  together  with  the  words  they  modify. 
Examples  of  these  in  Mod.  Germ,  are  allein,  als,  also,  alshald, 
vielleicht,  wohlan,  wohlauf,  wohlfeil.  In  MHG  we  may  class 
under  this  head  such  words  as  alterseine,  borlane,  borgrdz,  mdre- 
grdz,  uralt,  urmdre,  ubarMt,  Such  categories  as  these  are  not 
included  in  the  present  discussion. 

There  are  also  a  number  of  other  adverbs  which  are  occa- 
sionally found  as  modifiers  of  adjectives  and  adverbs,  but  the 
original  meaning  of  the  words  is  so  evident  that  they  are  likewise 


1  RSI  1  r 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        15 

not  included  in  the  list  of  strengthening  particles.  They  are 
such  as  the  following :  billiche  wdren  sie  gemA  Elis.  459 ;  gar 
wirdedichen  schdne,  Elis.  397 ;  zuhtidichen  frd,  Erl.  813 ;  sd 
wunneclichen  werde,  Siind.  Wid.  3106  ;  grdzliche  vil,  Karl  der  Gr. 
3057 ;  als6  kreftecliche  grdZj  Karl  der  Gr.  7992  ;  gar  grimmedi- 
chen  kalty  Krone  5440  ;  s6  hreftec  wol,  Loh.  4844 ;  innediche  Idt^ 
Tristan  13,600;  wundern  scAdne,  Gen.  5-35 ;  tugentlichen  frd, 
Erl.  942;  s6  vreislichen  snel.  Wig.  164-10. 

The  words  whose  use  in  Middle  High  German  as  strength- 
ening particles  is  considered  in  the  following  pages  are :  vil, 
barte,  gar,  rebte,  wol,  genuoc,  s^re,  michel,  starke^ 
al,  and  grimine. 

In  the  statistics  under  the  different  particles,  and  in  the 
examples  given,  instances  with  the  comparative  are  not  included. 
These  will  be  found  discussed  in  a  special  chapter  at  the  end. 


VIL. 

The  commonest  of  all  the  strengthening  particles  during  the 
MHG  period,  as  likewise  for  OHG,  is  viL  The  reason  for 
this  popularity  lies  doubtless  in  the  fact  that  the  word  had  lost 
its  individual  color  very  early,  and  was  thus  free  to  be  joined 
with  any  and  all  classes  of  adjectives  and  adverbs.  Etymologi- 
cally  vilj  OHG  filu,  is  connected  with  Latin  poUere,  to  be  strong ^ 
and  the  word  may  be  considered  as  an  undeclined  neuter,  either 
nominative  or  accusative  as  the  case  may  be,  of  the  adjective 
filuSf  which  has  been  lost.  As  used  adverbially,  including  the 
strengthening  particle,  vil  appears  as  accusative  of  measure  or 
degree. 

Just  what  the  original  force  of  the  Germanic  root  was,  whether 
it  had  reference  primarily  to  quantity  or  to  number,  is  difficult 
to  determine.  Probably  it  was  the  former.  During  the  early 
MHG  period  this  particle  was  especially  common  with  such 
words  as  manec,  selten,  didce,  ofle,  etc.,  where  the  idea  of  number 
is  involved.  In  Otfrid  the  preference  of  filu  for  the  same  class 
of  words  is  just  as  marked.  There  is  little  doubt  that  in  such 
expressions  as  filu  manag,  etc.,  as  originally  used,  the  figure  was 


16       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

felt  as  a  real  metaphor.  This  would  hardly  be  true  if  the  idea 
at  the  basis  of  the  particle  were  likewise  that  of  number. 

The  tables  which  are  given  below,  in  connection  with  the 
detailed  treatment  of  this  particle  by  dialects,  will  show  that 
vil  maintained  its  supremacy  over  the  greater  part  of  the  MHG 
field  down  to  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  actual 
frequency  of  the  word  in  the  various  monuments  varies  greatly. 
The  extent  to  which  strengthening  particles  in  general  are  used 
is  a  matter  largely  of  individual  taste  and  habit.  There  are 
differences,  however,  which  are  due  to  the  nature  of  the  literary 
material  and  to  the  particular  branch  of  literature  in  question. 
Epic  poetry,  for  instance,  seems  to  offer  the  greatest  opportunity 
for  their  use,  and  this  is  true  more  particularly  for  the  popular 
and  decadent  court  epic  than  for  the  court  epic  proper.  In  the 
popular  epic  they  are  employed  to  enliven  the  action,  already 
the  most  important  feature,  and  to  give  zest  to  the  description. 
Lyric  poetry,  on  the  other  hand,  especially  the  more  elevated 
in  tone,  is  not  marked  by  the  presence  of  such  expressions  to  so 
great  an  extent.  In  the  religious  prose  there  are  great  differ- 
ences of  usage,  and  these  are  to  be  ascribed  partly  to  individual 
taste,  partly  no  doubt  to  the  peculiar  usage  of  the  class  of 
society  and  the  locality  for  which  the  work  is  written. 

The  difference  in  the  relative  frequency  of  vil  in  the  various 
monuments,  as  compared  with  other  particles,  is  very  great  even 
before  any  general  decline  in  the  use  of  this  particle  is  notice- 
able. This  is  of  course  due  to  the  varying  frequency  with  which 
other  particles  appear,  and  the  conditions  regarding  these  are 
very  complex.  As  will  appear  further  on,  the  declining  use 
of  harte,  wol^  and  genuoOj  the  increasing  popularity  of  gar,  the 
varying  use  of  rehte^  and  the  sporadic  and  purely  local  appear- 
ance of  s^re,  starJce  and  grimme,  all  enter  into  consideration  and 
modify  the  table  of  percentages  for  vil. 

By  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  decline  in  the  use 
of  vil  is  apparent  over  the  whole  territory.  In  certain  parts 
of  the  field,  as  West  Middle  German,  and  in  certain  classes  of 
literature,  as  lyric  poetry  and  the  prose  monuments,  the  decline 
begins  earlier  and  is  more  decided. 

Statistics  as  to  the  frequency  of  vil  in  the  various  monuments 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        17 

of  the  period  are  given  in  the  following  tables,  which  show  the 
total  number  of  strengthening  particles  found,  the  number  of 
examples  of  vil,  the  number  per  thousand  lines,  and  the  ratio 
of  vil  to  the  whole  number  of  particles,  expressed  in  per  cent. 
In  each  of  the  tables  the  lyrical  monuments  are  indented. 

To  show  how  the  periods  of  popularity  of  the  various 
strengthening  particles  overlap  one  another,  the  percentages 
for  harte  and  gar  are  repeated  in  the  tables  for  vil. 

Alemannic. 

Tn+Qi      17-.-7      Per  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent, 
lotai,     yii.       j.jjgg_         ^^.^  f^^^^  ^^^ 

1.  Poetical  monuments. 

a)  Lower  Alemannic. 

Keinmar  von  Hagenau....  88  69  33  78  2  2 

Tristan 412  257  13  62  13 

Flore  und  Blanscheflur 82  54  7  66  -22  6 

DieGuteFrau 86  51  16  59  28  6 

DasSteinbuch 27  14  14  58  22 

Der  Trojanische  Krieg 351  257  26  73  4  8 

KeiserOttemitdemBarte...  22  14  18  82  10  9 

Alexius 110  95  67  86  6  6 

Martina 268  217  22  81  6  7 

Eeinfried  von  Braunschweig,  97  70  7  71  ...  21 

Peter  von  Stauffenberg 46  34  30  74  4  15 

b)  Upper  Alemannic. 

Der  Gute  Gerhard 218  197  28  92  1  3 

Barlaam  und  Josaphat 304  287  28  91  *      1  3 

Johannes  Hadlaub 106  53  23  50  ...  36 

2.  Prose. 

Altd.  Pred.Wack.1-13,18-20,  25  25  ...  100         

"        "         "             27-35,  26  24  ...  93         

"        "         "             42-52,  26  16  ...  58  15          15 
Deut.  Pred.  d.  13. 

Jahr.,Griesh 53  9  ...  17  2          68 

Pred.  auf  Joh.  d. 

Taufer,  Germ.  35...  3  1  ...  33  ...          66 

From  the  above  tables  for  Alemannic,  it  will  be  seen  that  vil 
continues  as  the  most  common  strengthening  particle  through- 
out the  whole  period.  In  Lower  Alemannic  monuments,  while 
the  percentages  are  by  no  means  regular,  no  signs  of  a  general 
decline  in  the  use  of  this  particle  are  to  be  seen.     The  actual 


18        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

frequency  varies  from  7  to  67  examples  per  thousand  lines.  The 
work  showing  the  lowest  percentage  is  Das  Steinbuch,  which  is 
popular  in  tone.  Here  the  low  percentage  is  caused  by  the 
frequency  of  harte  and  rehte}  The  highest  percentage  for  vily 
as  well  as  the  greatest  number  of  strengthening  particles,  is 
found  in  Alexius.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  nature  of  the 
material.  Alexius,  like  Hartmann's  Gregorius,  is  a  story  with 
little  description  but  full  of  strong  situations  and  pathetic  inci- 
dents, and  therefore  offers  more  scope  for  emphatic  expressions. 

The  two  Upper  Alemannic  monuments  from  the  early  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  the  works  of  Rudolph  von  Ems,  show  few 
other  strengthening  particles,  and  consequently  a  high  percentage 
for  vilj  91  and  92.  The  lyric  poems  of  Johannes  Hadlaub,  from 
the  end  of  the  century,  show  a  decided  decline  in  the  percentage 
of  vily  which  is  here  50,  and  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  use 
of  gar,  which  shows  a  percentage  of  35. 

The  first  three  groups  of  sermons  from  WackernageFs  edition, 
which  are  from  the  twelfth  or  the  early  thirteenth  century,  show 
high  percentages  for  viL  Sermons  42-52  which  Wackernagel  is 
inclined  to  place  about  1300  (p.  268),  show  a  somewhat  lower 
percentage  for  vil,  or  58.  The  presence  of  harte  and  the  low 
percentage  for  gar,  15,  indicate  that  this  group  is  probably  to 
be  placed  much  earlier  than  1300,  at  least  in  the  first  half  of 
the  thirteenth  century. 

While  the  lyric  poems  of  Johannes  Hadlaub  show  a  low 
percentage  for  vil,  there  is  no  indication  that  even  in  Upper 
Alemannic  vil  is  as  yet  becoming  obsolete.  Poetic  diction  would 
doubtless  retain  a  word  of  this  kind  long  after  it  had  ceased  to 
be  current  in  the  spoken  language  or  in  the  prose  literature.  It 
would,  however,  remain  longest  in  connection  with  the  more 
common  adjectives  and  adverbs  and  in  formal  expressions. 
Compare  Mod.  Germ,  vielleicht,  Vielliebchen,  With  such  it  would 
have  the  closest  connection.  If  vil  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century  were  on  the  point  of   becoming  obsolete,  we  should 

1  This  is  also  largely  a  matter  of  editing.  The  manuscripts  are  all  from  the 
fifteenth  century  and  show  considerable  variation  as  to  strengthening  particles. 
H.  (Hamburger)  occasionally  substitutes  gar  for  vil  or  harte.  Dr.  (Erfurter 
Druck)  shows  a  higher  per  cent  for  harte. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.        19 

expect  to  find  its  use  limited,  even  in  poetic  diction,  to  these 
more  common  connections.  The  examples  from  Peter  von 
Stauffenberg  (1310),  and  Johannes  Hadlaub  (1302),  do  not 
indicate  that  such  is  the  case.  Vil  is  found  here  not  only  in 
the  more  frequent  associations,  such  as  vil  halde^  vil  dicke,  vil 
gerne,  vil  guot,  vil  liep^  vil  manec,  vil  schoenej  vil  wol,  etc.,  but 
also  in  those  which  are  not  so  common :  vil  ange,  vil  Ids,  vil 
siechy  vil  tump,  vil  valsch,  vil  gendte,  vil  zuchtediGhe.  This  shows 
that  vil  is  still  felt  as  a  living  element  in  the  language,  capable 
of  use  in  new  surroundings  and  of  general  application  as  a 
strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs.  The  very  frequent  use 
of  vil  in  the  sermon  literature  (Wackernagel)  for  the  thirteenth 
century  shows  also  that  it  still  remained  current. 

The  low  percentage  for  vil  (17)  in  the  volume  of  Grieshaber's 
deutsche  Predigten,  and  the  high  percentage  for  gar  (68)  prob- 
ably indicate  that  these  are  to  be  dated  as  late  as  the  fourteenth 
century.^  Vil  here  is  limited  to  such  common  expressions  as 
vil  lutzely  vil  manee,  vil  s^re,  vil  swcere,  vil  ubel,  vil  unreht, 

Bavarian-Austrian  . 

rr^+„i      rr-i      Pet  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent. 
Total.     Vil.        lijjgg^  ^i^  ^^^g_         ^^^ 

Bavarian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Albreht  von  Johannsdorf,  13  12  ...  92  ...  8 

Wolfdietrich  B 235  228  62  98  ...  3 

Parzival 293  186  7  63  14  2 

Neidhart  von  Reuenthal,  93  81  24  87  4  4 

Helmbreht 46  45  25  98  2 

Die  Warnung  (?) 83  78  21  94  4  2 

S.  Francisken  Leben 109  75  15  69  10  10 

Der  Heilige  Georg  (?) 86  68  11  79  10  7 

Der  Jiingere  Titurel  (?) 154  136  49  88  ...  11 

Lohengrin 90  44  9  49  2  39 

b)  Prose. 

Berthold  von  Eegensburg....   366       91        33  24  ...  73 

1  Compare  Richard  Sensche,  "Ueber  den  Stil  bei  dem  alemannischen  anony- 
men  Prediger  aus  dem  XIII.  Jahrhundert."  Berlin  1897.  "Grieshabers 
deutsche  Predigten  sind  aus  sprachlichen  Griinden  dem  XIV.  Jahrhundert 


zuzuweisen 


)f 


20       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

rr  *  1      rn?      Per  1000  Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent, 
iotai.     yu.       lijjgg  ^ii^  ^^^g  gar. 

2.  Austrian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

DieHochzeit 37  34  31  92  8 

Genesis 159  148  ...  93  1 

Exodus 156  148  94  94  4 

Die  Biiclier  Mosis 177  168  31  94  4 

Enticrist 53  49  40  93  2            4 

KindheitJesu 83  62  21  75  13            1 

NibelungenAi 1250  1000  100  82  8 

♦*          B 1250  975  100  80  7 

C 1250  900  92  75  7 

Biterolf  und  Dietleib 701  636  47  90  6 

Ortnit 126  101  42  80  17            1 

Wolfdietrich  A 250  224  90  90  7 

Ortnit  and  Wolfdietrich  C...  46  40  ...  87  6            2 

Kudrun 552  444  65  80  11 

Waltherv.d.Vogelweide,  145  123  26  85  1            7 

Karl  der  Grosse 344  302  30  90  8             1 

Freidankes  Bescheidenheit..  94  83  17  88  7            2 

Diu  Krone 395  348  35  88  1            4 

Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein..  389  340  48  87  3            3 

Garelv.d.bluhendenTal(?),  338  277  28  82  7            2 

Friedrich  V.  Sonnenburg..  26  18  21  69  ...           24 

Alexander 101  82  8  81  6          13 

b)  Prose. 

Altd.  Pred.  aus  S.  Paul 181     177        43  98  1 

In  the  Bavarian-Austrian  dialect  conditions  as  to  the  use  of 
strengthening  particles  are  very  complicated,  and  this  is  as  true 
of  vil  as  it  is  of  these  modifiers  in  general.  This  confusion  is 
due  largely  to  the  wide  extent  of  territory  which  is  included, 
for  it  is  at  once  apparent  that  no  general  statement  of  fact  may 
be  expected  to  apply  to  the  whole  region.  Every  branch,  too, 
of  literature  is  here  represented,  and  not  only  do  we  find  every 
variety  of  poetic  art,  but  within  the  same  field  every  degree  of 
poetic  skill,  from  the  Parzival  to  Garel  von  dem  hluhenden  Tal, 
and  to  the  senseless  interpolations  in  the  Nihelungen  and  Kudrun. 
Each  of  these  classes  of  literature  may  be  expected  to  have  its 
own  traditions  as  to  diction  and  word  usage.  The  wandering 
"  Spielmann "  was  doubtless  subject  to  quite  another  fashion 
than  that  to  which  the  writer  of  the  court  epic  responded. 

^Approximately. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        21 

In  the  Austrian  monuments  vil  continues  to  be  the  most 
common  strengthening  particle  throughout  the  whoJe  period. 
The  percentages  range  from  69  for  the  lyric  poems  of  Friedrich 
von  Sonnenburg,  to  94  for  the  rimed  versions  of  Genesis  and 
Exodus.  The  popular  and  religious  epics  of  this  dialect  show 
a  very  great  use  of  strengthening  particles,  greater  than  any 
class  of  literature  in  any  other  dialect.  This  may  be  partly 
due  to  the  nature  of  the  material.  Such  literature  has  more 
to  do  with  action  and  incidents,  less  with  analysis  and  char- 
acterization than  the  court  epic  or  than  lyric  poetry.  It  is 
also  a  mark  of  the  literary  skill  or  lack  of  skill  of  the  author. 
The  excessive  use  of  strengthening  particles  is  the  result  of  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  the  popular  poet  to  be  impressive.  Not 
trusting  to  the  simple  narration  of  his  story  to  arouse  and 
maintain  the  interest  of  his  hearers,  he  intersperses  it  with 
frequent  emphatic  expressions  which  indicate  his  own  appre- 
ciation of  what  he  relates.  From  this  attitude  of  mind  come 
also  such  subjective  exclamations  as  ah  wie,  hei  wie,  hei  waZy  etc., 
calculated  to  call  attention  to  the  important  parts  of  the  story. 

We  may  expect  to  find  also  in  the  frequent  use  of  vil  and 
other  strengthening  particles  in  this  class  of  Austrian  literature, 
a  reflection  of  local  popular  usage.  These  words  are  there, 
especially  in  the  older  monuments,  because  they  were  current, 
and  current  in  great  numbers,  in  the  spoken  language.  The 
sermon  literature  of  this  dialect  shows  also  a  greater  frequency 
of  these  particles  than  the  prose  works  of  any  other  dialect. 
The  Altdeutsche  Predigten  aus  S.  Paul,  show  44  examples  per 
thousand  lines,  Berthold  von  Eegensburg,  47. 

The  actual  frequency  of  vil  in  the  poetical  monuments,  as 
shown  by  the  above  list,  varies  greatly.  The  Nibelungenlied 
shows  about  100  examples  per  thousand  lines,  Wolfdietrich  A  90, 
Kudrun  QQ,  Ulrich  von  Eschenbach's  Alexander  8.  The  lyrical 
works  and  the  court  epic  show  usually  the  lowest  averages. 
Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein  is  exceptional  in  showing  48  per 
thousand  lines.  His  use  of  strengthening  particles  is,  however, 
quite  in  keeping  with  his  literary  style,  which  is  always  effusive. 

Although  the  monuments  from  the  end  of  the  century  show 
a  considerable  decline  in  the  use  of  vil,  there  is  no  evidence  that; 
2 


22       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

this  particle  is  as  yet  becoming  obsolete.  Its  use  in  the  prose 
literature,  as  well  as  the  class  of  words  to  which  it  is  joined  in 
the  poetical  monuments,  shows  that  it  is  still  alive  in  the  spoken 
language.  Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg  represents  a  locality,  the 
Tyrol,  where  gar  has  already  become  quite  popular.  There  is  here, 
however,  no  tendency  to  limit  vil  to  the  more  common  phrases. 
Nor  is  there  any  such  tendency  to  be  seen  in  the  Alexander. 

The  table  for  Bavarian  monuments  shows  a  decided  decline 
in  the  use  of  vil  by  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Gar 
comes  into  prominence  here  earlier  than  in  Austria,  and  already 
in  the  works  of  Berthold  von  Eegeusburg  forms  73  per  cent 
of  all  strengthening  part-icles.  In  poetical  diction  vil  retains  its 
prominence  much  longer.  In  Lohengrin  (1276-90)  it  shows  a 
percentage  of  49.  Here,  however,  signs  of  its  going  out  of 
fashion  are  present  in  the  tendency  to  limit  its  use  to  the  more 
common  adjectives  and  adverbs.  Nineteen  of  the  44  examples 
of  vil  are  with  manec. 

SWABIAN. 

rr^+„i      T7-;      Per  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent. 
Total.     V%1.       lijjgg  ^i^  ^„^^g  g^^ 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Werahers  Maria 92  86  34  94  3 

Bernger  von  Horheim 9  9  60  100           

Meinloh  von  Soflingen....  3  3  18  100 

Heinrich  von  Eugge 25  22  44  88           

Hartmann  von  Aue 17  17  32  100 

Erec 373  350  34  93  1            2 

Erstes  Biichlein 59  51  26  85  8 

Gregorius , 150  102  25  67  27            1 

Armer  Heinrich 81  62  40  71  18            1 

Iwein 249  189  23  76  16 

Zweites  Buchlein 15  9  12  60  20 

Gottfried  von  Neifen 88  78  44  89  1            5 

Ulrich  V.  Winterstetten....  138  117  50  85  4            5 

Der  Marner 54  48  ...  89  ...          10 

Rosengarten  (?) 141  101  ...  72  4          19 

Wolfdietrich  D 270  240  39  89  5            3 

6)  Prose. 

Bruder  David  von  Augsburg,  15  4  ...  30  ...          70 

In  the  Swabian  dialect  the  decline  in  the  use  of  vil  toward 
the  end  of  the  century  is  only  slightly  noticeable,  as  far  as  any 


Strengthening  Modifiers  ^  in  Mii^dle  Sigh  German,        23 

direct  evidence  is  at  hand.  The  lowest  percentage,  as  well  as 
the  lowest  actual  frequency,  is  shown  by  the  Zweites  Biichlein 
of  Hartmann  von  Aue,  where  only  12  examples  per  thousand 
lines  are  found,  these  being  60  per  cent  of  all  strengthening 
particles.  The  next  lowest  is  Gregorius,  which  shows  a  per- 
centage of  68.  This  is  due  to  the  unusually  high  percentage 
of  hai'te,  which  is  here  27. 

The  lyrical  monuments  and  Hartmann's  earlier  works  probably 
represent  the  conditions  in  the  current  spoken  language  better 
than  do  his  later  works,  where,  as  far  as  strengthening  particles 
are  concerned,  he  seems  to  be  more  under  the  influence  of  literary 
tradition. 

Prose  monuments  for  Swabia  are  rare  during  this  period. 
The  treatises  of  Bruder  David  von  Augsburg  (1230-1240)  show 
for  about  1750  long  lines  only  4  examples  of  vil  {wol,  riche, 
destey  Hep) J  11  of  gar,  and  one  of  s^re  {gar  s^re  muelich  12).  The 
works  of  Bruder  David  and  those  of  Berthold  von  Regensburg, 
with  whom  David  was  intimately  associated,  show  a  marked  dif- 
ference as  to  frequency  of  strengthening  particles,  9  per  thousand 
lines  in  the  former,  47  in  the  latter.  The  proportion  between 
vil  and  gar  is  in  both  practically  the  same.  This  difference  of 
frequency  of  these  particles  may  be  considered  largely  a  matter 
of  individual  style,  but  no  doubt  it  is  due  also  in  part  to  local 
differences  in  usage. 

West  Middle  German. 

Tntai      VS1      Per  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent, 
Aoiai.      vti.        j.^gg  ^^^  ^^^^  g^^ 

a)  Moselfrankish. 

Vorau  Alexander 64 

Rolandslied 400 

Konig  Rother 144 

Orendel 202 

Strassburg  Alexander 268 

Sanct  Brandan.... 102 

b)  Rhinefrankish. 

Friedrich  von  Hansen,  17 

c)  Hessian. 

Athis  und  Prophilias 36 

Liet  von  Troye 119 

Erlosung 124 

Elisabeth 99 


43 

30 

80 

11 

... 

373 

41 

95 

4 

... 

101 

20 

67 

26 

... 

151 

38 

74 

9 

7 

237 

32 

89 

9 

... 

80 

40 

83 

3 

8 

11 

22 

65 

6 

12 

25 

19 

69 

20 

46 

9 

38 

53 

3 

29 

4 

23 

8 

64 

34 

7 

34 

1 

44 

24        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

The  table  for  Moselfraukish  raonaments,  which  happen  to  be 
all  from  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  shows  a  very 
frequent  use  of  vil  in  this  dialect,  the  number  of  examples 
ranging  from  20  to  41  per  thousand  lines.  The  percentages 
are  also  high,  Konig  Rother,  which  is  the  most  popular  in  tone, 
showing  the  lowest,  67 ;  the  others  range  from  74  to  95. 

The  lyrical  poems  of  Friedrich  von  Hansen  (Rhinefrankish) 
show  comparatively  few  examples  oivil,  22  instances  per  thousand 
lines,  which  are  65  per  cent  of  all  particles.  Gar  appears  here 
with  a  percentage  of  12. 

The  monuments  of  the  thirteenth  century,  which  are  all 
Hessian  in  dialect,  show  a  rapidly  declining  use  of  this  particle^ 
With  the  exception  of  the  first  on  the  list,  Athis  und  Prophilias,. 
with  19  examples  per  thousand  lines,  the  instances  are  rare. 
The  Liet  von  Troye  (1215)  shows  an  average  of  9  per  thousand 
lines  and  a  percentage  of  38.  Die  Erlosung  (1295)  shows  a 
still  further  decline  of  vil,  as  only  4  examples  per  thousand  lines 
are  found  and  these  only  23  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of 
such  particles. 

Elisabeth,  of  about  the  same  date,  shows  a  larger  number 
of  strengthening  particles,  and,  as  may  perhaps  be  expected,  a 
somewhat  higher  percentage  for  vily  which  is  here  34.  Vil  at 
this  time  was  no  doubt  the  weakest  of  all  the  strengtheners,  and 
the  greater  the  habit  of  using  such  expressions,  the  greater  the 
proportion  of  the  more  insipid  ones  which  would  be  included. 
So,  conversely,  a  writer  who  uses  such  devices  only  rarely,  as 
Wolfram  von  Eschenbach,  would  be  more  careful  in  his  choice 
and  make  a  proportionally  greater  use  of  those  which  are  stronger. 

While  the  decline  of  vil  in  the  literary  language  was  earlier 
and  more  decided  here  than  in  any  oiher  dialect,  there  is  na 
evidence  to  show  that  even  by  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century 
it  had  become  obsolete.  In  neither  Die  Erlosung  nor  Elisabeth  is 
vil  limited  to  the  common  locutions,  but  it  is  joined  to  words  with 
which  it  has  been  by  no  means  frequently  associated,  vil  mehtic, 
Erl.  2637,  vil  gewar  Elis.  4765,  vil  ungetriuwe  1131,  vil  getriuwe 
1722,  vil  ebene  4044.  This  shows  that  vil  is  not  yet  a  fossil 
element  in  the  language.  That  other  particles  were,  however, 
more  popular  in  the  literary  language  throughout  the  whole 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        25 

century,  is  shown  by  the  tables  for  harte  and  gar.  In  the  Liet 
von  Troye  (1215)  it  is  harte^  which  forms  53  per  cent  of  all 
particles  used.  In  the  Erlosung  (1295)  it  is  gar,  which  occurs 
80  times  and  shows  a  percentage  of  64.  In  Elisabeth,  of  about 
the  same  date,  it  is  gar  also,  with  a  percentage  of  44.  The 
predominance  of  gar  over  vil  was  doubtless  still  greater  in  the 
spoken  language. 

Thueingian. 

T-ntoi      T7f7      Per  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent. 


a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Heinrich  v.  Morungen.. 

43 

37 

... 

85 

... 

2 

Heinrich  und  Kunigunde, 

288 

214 

45 

71 

22 

1 

Vater  Unser 

122 

188 

90 
125 

18 
34 

73 

66 

21 

18 

2 

Der  Siinden  Widerstreit... 

7 

Heinrich  von  Meissen... 

88 

63 

13 

72 

... 

24 

Tristan 

121 

43 

8 

35 

4 

54 

6)  Prose. 

Sermons  of  Eckard, 

Wackern.  55,  56,  60,  61, 

4 

... 

... 

... 

.,. 

100 

In  the  Thuringian  monuments  the  decline  of  vil  is  not  apparent 
so  early  as  in  Hessian,  but  makes  itself  unmistakably  felt  by  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Harte  is  quite  popular  here  in 
the  early  part  of  the  century,  gar  takes  the  lead  at  the  end. 
Vil,  both  as  to  actual  frequency,  and  as  to  its  ratio  to  the  other 
particles,  grows  steadily  less  from  Heinrich  und  Kunigunde 
(1216)  to  Heinrich  von  Freiberg's  Tristan  (1301-20),  with  but 
slight  exceptions.  The  tendency  to  restrict  vil  to  the  more 
<;ommon  locutions  is  perceptible  in  Heinrich  von  Meissen,  evi- 
dent in  Tristan.  In  the  latter  monument  43  examples  are  found 
in  5000  lines,  and  of  these,  8  are  with  Hep,  6  with  lihte,  5  with 
schiere,  3  each  with  starke,  schdne,  wol,  2  each  with  manec  and 
reine,  and  the  others  with  getriuwe,  gerne,  hlein,  sueze,  swinde, 
zorn. 

East  Frankish. 


Total.  Vil. 

Himmelfahrt  Mariae 34  27 

IVigalois 377  309 

DerWinsbekeunddieWinsbekin,      17  15 

DerRenner 137  96 


Per  1000  Percent.  Percent.  Percent, 
lines.  vil.  harte.         gar. 


... 

80 

17 

... 

31 

82 

14 

... 

12 

88 

... 

12 

19 

70 

3 

25 

26        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 


South  Frankish. 

rr^^^  1      Trw      Per  1000  Percent,  Percent.  Percent^ 
Total.     Vtt.        i.jjgg_         ^^i^  ^^^^g^  g^^^ 


Moriz  von  Craon 

56 

35 

14 

62 

34 

Keinmar  von  Zweter 

130 

116 

34 

89 

1 

In  East  Frankish  monuments  no  decided  decline  in  the  use 
of  vil  is  seen  until  the  works  of  Hugo  von  Trimberg,  whose 
Renner  shows  gar  with  a  percentage  of  25. 

In  South  Frankish  the  first  monument  on  the  list,  Moriz  von 
Craon,  shows  an  unusually  low  percentage  for  vil,  62.  Here 
harte  furnishes  34  per  cent  of  all  particles.  Thio  monument 
comes  from  near  the  border  line  between  South  Frankish  terri- 
tory and  Alemannic,  and  Alemannic  influence  has  probably  been 
at  work.  The  percentage  for  vil  is  here  about  the  same  as  for 
Lower  Alemannic  works  of  about  the  same  date.  Compare 
Tristan  62  per  cent,  Fl.  und  Bl.  QQ  per  cent.  In  the  lyrie 
poems  of  Eeinmar  von  Zweter  vil  is  actually  very  frequent 
and  the  percentage  is  also  high.  Perhaps  Reinmar  represents 
Austrian  usage  as  to  strengthening  particles  rather  than  that 
of  his  native  dialect. 

Throughout  the  whole  period  of  its  popularity  vil  seem& 
capable  of  modifying  any  adjective  or  adverb  whatever.  Such 
observations  as  may  be  made  concerning  the  preference  of 
one  particle  over  another  with  certain  classes  of  words,  will 
be  found  under  the  discussion  of  the  other  particles.  The 
following  table  is  given  to  show  the  relative  frequency  of  the 
different  particles  with  a  few  of  the  most  common  adjectives 
and  adverbs.  The  data  given  are  for  eight  of  the  more 
important  monuments  of  the  early  thirteenth  century,  well 
distributed  as  to  dialect.  Since  the  words  chosen  are  the  most 
common  ones  of  their  class,  they  are  not  those  with  which 
the  newer  strengthening  particles  are  usually  found,  and  the 
list  therefore  fails  to  show  the  true  proportion  between  the 
various  particles. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        27 


vil      balde 1  2  3         ...  1  1         ...        11 

harte      "    Ill         ...  1         

wol         "    10        

al  «    2        1        

vil        gerne 19        30  9        11  3        ...  2  8 

harte        "    1  3        ...  6         ...  1         

genuoc      "    1         

vil         guot 2  20          5        17          4          1        10        16 

tarte        "    1  3          2         ...           2          7          3          1 

rehte        "   1         1 

genuoc     "   1         3         3 

sere  «'   1         

vil      gr6z 3        15  5  7        26  1  3        25 

harte     "   1  2  1         ...  4  5  6         ... 

vil      kame 6        10  4  3  7  1        ...  7 

harte      "    1  3        

vil      kleine 3  2  4  4  1        4 

harte      *'    13  12  1        

vil      liep.. 12        10        ...        17  4        ...  2        43 

harte    " 2        

vil         manec 19        36  3        46        40  2  6        21 

harte         "     1  1         1         

genuoc      "     1 

wol  "    1        

vil      nahe 15        22        14        10  6        ...  1        11 

harte     "   2        ...  2        1 

s6re       "   2        

vil      rich 6        ...        10        11 

harte    "  1  2        ...  1  4        ..  3 

gar        " 

vil      schiere 17        26  3  8  7  2  1  9 

harte       "      12  4  11         

gar  "      1        

^  The  data  are  for  all  the  works  of  Hartmann  except  the  lyrics. 
^  Der  Gute  Gerhard  and  Barlaam  und  Josaphat. 


28       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 


i     -^      i      I     §^    ..."     ^- 

^    -^     -^     t   i^   .§g    o« 


vil      s6re 7        35  1        18        11         ...  5        17 

harte    "   13  3        ...  8  3  2  1 


gar 


1 


vil      siieze 12  4        ...          1          8        ...          8  21 

harte      "    2        1 

rehte     "    6  

vil         wol 24  60        13        23        19          6        35  25 

harte       «  11  25          5          2          5          5          6  ... 

rehte      "  5          2        2        1 

genuoc    " 1 


HARTE. 

Harte,  as  a  strengthening  particle,  plays  an  important  part 
during  this  period.  It  has  been  assumed  that  the  development 
in  meaning  from  harte^  OHG  harto,  the  modifier  of  verbs,  and 
meaning  with  force,  to  harto  the  indefinite  strengthening  particle, 
was  brought  about  by  the  use  of  the  word  with  participles,  that 
is,  while  originally  only  a  modifier  of  verbs,  the  word  came  to 
be  applied  to  participles  used  as  adjectives,  and  then  extended 
to  other  adjectives  and  adverbs.^  As  different  stages  pointing 
to  such  a  development.  Kip  gives  the  following  : 

a)  With  participles  used  adjectively, 

der  harte  stdzende  rdm,  V.M.  61-14, 

6)  With  adjectives  and  adverbs  derived  from  verbs,  or  closely 
related  to  verbs  in  form, 

vil  harte  erchomelicho,  Ex.  544  (to  erkomen), 

c)  In  constructions  where  there  is  doubt  as  to  whether  it  modi- 
fies a  verb  or  a  substantive  idea,  wachet  wan  der  tievd  der  dd  ist 
harte  iur  widerwarte,  Phys.  83-12. 

As  a  support  to  this  theory  we  naturally  look  to  see  whether 

1  Kip,  page  168. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.        29 

harte  is  actually  found  frequently  united  with  participial  adjec- 
tives, and  other  adjectives  derived  from  verbs,  or  similar  to 
verbs  in  form.  If  such  has  been  the  development,  we  should 
expect  to  find,  at  least  in  the  earlier  monuments,  harte  in  the 
greater  number  of  instances  joined  to  such  words.  That  this  is 
not  the  case  can  be  readily  seen  from  the  list  given  by  Kip  of 
the  examples  from  the  religious  poetry  of  the  11th  and  12th 
centuries.  Of  the  72  instances  cited  only  six :  harte  erhar- 
meclichf  harte  erchomenliGhe,  harte  riuwec,  harte  sorclieh,  harte 
unherihtet,  harte  vorhtsaniy  may  be  reasonably  connected  with 
any  verbs,  and  even  here  the  connection  is  often  but  slight. 
Turning  to  the  list  of  examples  of  harte  as  a  verb  modifier,  we 
are  also  surprised  at  the  small  number  of  instances  where  it  is 
connected  with  a  participial  construction.  Of  the  216  exam- 
ples, only  20,  or  less  than  10  per  cent,  are  found  as  modifiers  of 
participles,  either  past  or  present. 

Turning  to  an  older  period  of  the  language,  we  find  that 
Otfrid  uses  harto  84  times  ^  as  a  strengthener  of  adjectives  and 
adverbs.  Here  also  very  little  trace  of  a  verbal  idea  is  to  be 
found  in  the  words  with  which  harto  in  connected.  The  list 
includes  25  instances  with  filuy  7  with  mihily  4  with  manag^  4 
with  mtr  (compar.),  3  with  sdln^  2  with  seltsaeni,  2  with  ungimah. 
With  only  three  of  the  whole  number,  bizenti,  sdn,  and  firdan, 
is  there  any  verbal  association,  either  direct  or  indirect.  As  a 
modifier  of  verbs,  harto  is  found  124  times  in  Otfrid,  and  of  this 
number  only  10  are  instances  of  harto  with  participles,  or  less 
than  9  per  cent.  Instead  of  being  used  preferably  with  partici- 
ples and  participial  adjectives,  harto  seems  to  be  avoided  in  such 
connection. 

If  we  may  judge  from  the  actual  facts  as  to  OHG  harto y  it  is 
very  improbable  that  the  word  owes  its  function  as  a  strengthen- 
ing particle  to  its  frequent  use  with  participles,  or  that  it  passed 
from  a  modifier  of  verbs  to  a  modifier  of  adjectives  and  adverbs 
by  way  of  the  participial  adjective.  If  the  latter  usage  is  not 
as  old  as  the  former,  it  is  at  least  as  fundamental,  and  implies 
a  certain  degree  of  independence.     Perhaps  we  may  better  look 

^  See  the  dictionary  of  Piper,  where  however  several  instances  are  lacking. 


30       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

for  the  origin  of  such  a  use  in  the  law  of  association  of  ideas. 
The  metaphorical  nature  of  the  use  of  strengthening  particles 
has  been  previously  referred  to.  In  such  expressions  as  harto 
filUj  harto  manag,  the  attribute  of  one  class  of  objects  or  ideas  is 
asserted  of  another,  for  the  purpose  of  forming,  that  it  may  be 
longer  retained,  a  more  striking  picture. 

It  is  natural,  for  instance,  to  associate  the  idea  of  power  or 
strength  with  the  ideas  of  size,  quantity,  or  extent.  A  host  of 
common  English  and  German  expressions  are  evidence  of  this 
fact.  Compare  a  mighty  lot,  mighty  large,  powerful  great,  mdchtig 
gross,  ungeheuer  viel,  and  MHG  starke  breit  und  grdz,  starke  lane, 
starke  tie/. 

The  fact  that  in  Otfrid  50  per  cent  of  the  examples  of  harto 
are  united  with  adjectives  or  adverbs  expressing  size,  quantity, 
distance,  etc.,  and  that  during  the  MHG  period  this  particle  is 
so  frequently  found  with  such  words,  seems  to  justify  the  con- 
clusion that  this  was  the  original  feeling  when  harte  was  used 
as  a  strengthening  modifier.  It  is  but  a  step  from  harte  vil  to 
harte  kleine,  harte  lutzel,  or  from  harte  verre  to  harte  unverre. 
These  expressions,  which  are  very  common  in  MHG,  preserve 
the  feeling  that  harte  is  appropriate  for  ideas  of  quantity,  though 
the  direction  is  reversed. 

There  is  another  class  of  ideas  with  which  the  notion  of  power 
or  force  {harto,  vehementer)  is  easily  and  naturally  associated. 
These  are  subjective,  and  have  to  do  with  the  attitudes  of  the 
mind  and  especially  the  feelings.  Sometimes  they  denote  actions 
or  judgments  of  the  mind,  and  here  the  connection  with  the  use 
of  ha7'te  as  a  modifier  of  verbs  is  closer.  Compare  harte  with 
such  verbs  as  hetruehen,  erbarmen,  ervurhten,  jdmern,  klagen, 
minnen,  milejen,  niden,  riuwen,  schamen,  senen,  smerzen,  sorgen, 
trUren,  trilwen,  vrouwen,  furhten,  wundern,  zwiveln.  Such  exam- 
ples are  frequent  in  both  OHG  and  MHG,  and  form  the  largest 
class  of  verbs  with  which  harte  is  united,  as  may  be  seen  from 
Kip^s  list.  Thus  we  may  account  for  the  frequency  in  MHG  of 
such  combinations  as  harte  wol,  harte  gerne,  harte  s^re,  harte  frd, 
harte  schoene,  harte  sueze,  harte  guot,  starke  jr6,  starke  kit,  starke 
holt,  etc.  The  same  principle  is  at  work  in  certain  colloquial 
English  expressions  :  mighty  glad,  mighty  fine,  mighty  bad  (East- 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        31 

ern  U.  S.),  'powerful  nice,  powerful  handy,  powerful  sick,  even 
powetful  weak  (Southern). 

Perhaps  the  tendency  to  associate  harte  with  adjectives  and 
adverbs  in  -Uch,  -liche{n),  which  shows  itself  strongly  in  certain 
parts  of  the  MHG  field,  is  to  be  referred  to  this  principle.  The 
subjective  element  in  the.  statement^  for  instance,  that  an  action 
or  a  thing  is  ritterlich,  like  a  knight,  is  large.  English  a  strong 
resemblance,  strikingly  similar,  may  be  compared. 

As  to  the  different  classes  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  with 
which  harte  is  actually  associated  during  the  period  in  question, 
we  may  note : 

a)  Those  expressing  quantity,  extent  of  time  or  space,  etc., 
hreit,  grdz,  hdhe,  kleine,  kume,  kurz^  lane,  lutzel,  manec,  michel, 
ndhen,  ringe,  verre,  unverre,  unhdch,  unlanc,  vol,  wite,  wtnec, 

b)  Those  which  express  a  good  or  desirable  quality :  billich, 
biderbe,  Michen,  friuntlichen,  gerne,  guot,  guetliche,  Mrlich,  kluoc, 
kunecliche,  meisterliche,  lobeliche,  milte,  sueze,  rehte,  ritterliche,  rich, 
staete,  fr6,  froeliche,  wol,  wunneclich,  vrum,  wis,  zuhteclichen, 
zierlich,  etc. 

c)  Those  expressing  an  undesirable  quality  :  angestliche,  bitter- 
liche,  egebar,  grimmeclichen,  griuweliche,  jdmerliche,  klageliche, 
lasterlichen,  leit,  misselich,  ungerne,  ndtlich,  riwic,  sorcHche,  schede- 
liche,  s^re,  swaere,  unsuoze,  ungezogenliche,  ungemach,  unsenfteclich, 
trUrec,  vreislichen,  wi,  lount,  zornec. 

d)  Adjectives  and  adverbs  of  a  kindred  meaning  :  kreftecliche, 
Mte,  vaste,  stark,  wilde, 

e)  Those  of  opposite  meaning  :  krank,  Use,  sanfie,  swach,  stille, 

f)  Those  of  time,  frequency,  etc. :  vruo,  spdte,  dicke,  selten  (not 
ofte\  gdch,  swinde,  schiere. 

With  certain  words,  harte  has  not  been  found :  arm,  edel, 
ebene,  gevuoge,  genaedec,  gehiure,  hoveliche,  heilec,  innecliche, 
muede,  ofte,  kuene,  rdsevar,  saelec,  saelecliche,  saeldenbaere,  sende, 
stolz,  schameCiche,  schantliche,  tugentliche,  wiplichen,  waerlichen. 
With  others,  kiusche.  Hep,  reine,  tougen,  werdecliche,  only  in  Mid- 
dle German  and  there  only  rarely. 

Many  of  these  are  frequently  recurring  words  in  the  court 
epic,  and  are  essentially  a  part  of  the  diction  of  this  class  of 
literature.     The  absence  of  harte  with  these  words  then,  would 


32       Strengthming  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 


indicate  either  the  popular  origin  of  this  particle,  and  the  feel- 
ing that  it  is  more  properly  a  part  of  the  common  speech,  or  at 
least  that  it  had  ceased  to  be  current  in  the  more  elevated  style, 
or  was  confined  to  certain  locutions,  at  the  time  when  the  court 
epic  vvas  developing. 


Alemannic. 


1.  Poetical  Monuments. 


Total.     Harte.  Per  1000  Per 


lines. 

cent. 

3 

... 

2 

65 

3 

13 

18 

2 

22 

24 

8 

28 

6 

6 

22 

14 

1 

4 

2 

3 

10 

6 

4 

6 

17 

2 

6 

2 

... 

4 

2 

1 

4 

... 

1 

0 

... 

... 

4 

15 

1 

... 

2 

a)  Lower  Alemannic: 

Keinmar  von  Hagenau 88 

Tristan 412 

Flore  und  Blanscheflur i 82 

DieGute  Frau 86 

Das  Steinbuch 27 

Der  Trojanische  Krieg 351 

Keiser  Otte 22 

Alexius 110 

Martina 268 

Reinfried  von  Braunschweig 97 

Peter  von  Stauffenberg 46 

h)  Upper  Alemannic : 

Der  Gute  Gerhard 218 

Barlaam  und  Josaphat 304 

Johannes  Hadlaub 106 

2.  Prose. 

AM.  Predigt.  Wack.  42-52 ...  26 

Pred.  d.  13  Jahr.  (Grieshaber) 53 


From  the  above  table  it  will  be  seen  that  the  lyric  poems  of 
Reinmar  show  few  examples  of  harte,  and  a  remarkably  low 
percentage  for  their  place  on  the  list.  The  two  monuments 
which  show  the  greatest  actual  frequency,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  highest  percentages  for  this  particle,  Die  Gute  Frau,  and 
Das  Steinbuch,  are  popular  in  tone.  Aside  from  these,  a 
gradual  decline  is  shown  in  the  use  of  harte  throughout  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  percentage  for  Tristan  is  lower  than 
that  for  the  monument  immediately  following,  although  the 
actual  examples  are  more  frequent.  Der  Troj.  Krieg  shows  a 
lower  percentage  than  would  be  expected.  The  actual  frequency 
oi harte  in  Alexius^  is  greater  than  in  Keiser  Otte,  though  the 

1  Compare  Hartmann's  Gregorius,  which  is  a  similar  story,  and  where  harte 
is  unusually  frequent. 


strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.        33 

percentage  is  less.  This  is  due  to  the  great  use  of  vil  in  this 
monument,  which  has  been  referred  to  under  the  discussion  of 
that  particle.  Peter  von  Stauffenberg  shows  only  two  exam- 
ples, both  of  which  are  harte  vrdj  one  of  the  most  common  of 
combinations  with  hartej  which  may  be  considered  at  this  date 
is  a  mere  formal  expression. 

By  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  harte  in  Lower  Ale- 
man  nic  has  practically  disappeared  from  the  literary  language. 

In  Upper  Alemannic,  the  examples  from  the  works  of  Rudolf 
von  Ems,  which  are  from  the  early  part  of  the  century,  are  rare, 
constituting  only  about  one  per  cent  of  all  particles  used.  The 
lyric  poems  of  Johannes  Hadlaub,  from  the  end  of  the  century, 
show  none. 

An  interesting  question  at  this  point  is  the  relation  between 
the  use  of  this  word  in  epic  poetry  and  its  use  in  the  popular 
idiom  or  spoken  language.  The  only  examples  of  harte  which 
have  been  found  in  the  prose  works  of  this  period  are  from  ser- 
mons 43,  45,  and  46,  in  WackernagePs  collection,  harte  wider- 
zaeme  43-83,  harte  uhel  45-40,  harte  unerberldich  45-76,  harte 
sicherlichen  46-134,  and  from  the  volume  of  Grieshaber,  harte 
ubel,  page  97.  The  former  collection  seems  to  date  from  the 
first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  latter  from  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth.  The  very  infrequent  use  of  strengthening 
particles  in  the  prose  literature  of  this  dialect  furnishes  but  little 
data  upon  which  to  base  any  conclusion  as  to  the  status  of  harte 
in  the  spoken  language.  What  direct  evidence  there  is,  points 
to  an  early  disappearance  of  this  particle,  that  is,  if  we  may  look 
upon  the  single  example  from  the  volume  of  Grieshaber  as  a 
mere  historical  remnant. 

We  may  reach  a  conclusion,  however,  by  considering  the 
adjectives  and  adverbs  with  which  harte  is  associated  in  the 
poetical  monuments.  A  word  of  this  kind,  if  it  has  once  been 
popular,  would  live  on  in  poetic  diction  long  after  it  had  ceased 
to  be  current  in  the  popular  speech.  It  would,  however,  endure 
only  in  connection  with  those  adjectives  and  adverbs  with  which 
it  had  been  the  most  frequently  associated  during  the  period  of 
its  popularity.  The  unit  then  to  be  considered  in  determining 
whether  harte  is  becoming  obsolete,  is  not  the  strengthening 


34       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

particle  by  itself,  but  the  strengtbener  together  with  the  modi- 
fied word.  The  question  is  not  whether  harte  lived  on  in  the 
popular  or  literary  language,  but  in  what  expressions  it  survived 
the  longest.  It  may  be,  and  actually  is  true  that  harte  wol  con- 
tinued current  in  epic  poetry  until  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  while  other  expressions,  as  harte  manec,  harte  Mme, 
disappeared  very  much  earlier. 

If  harte  is  retained  in  the  literary  language,  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  for  example,  only  in  those  expres- 
sions which  during  the  earlier  period  and  for  other  dialects  were 
the  most  common,  we  may  look  upon  these  examples  as  mere 
fossil  remnants  constituting  a  part  of  poetic  diction,  and  conclude 
that  the  word  has  ceased  to  be  a  general  strengtbener  of  adjec- 
tives and  adverbs. 

In  all  the  poetical  monuments  of  Lower  Alemannic  examined, 
1 57  examples  of  harte  have  been  found,  or  outside  of  Tristan, 
which  dates  from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  which  shows 
not  only  the  greatest  number  of  examples  but  also  the  greatest 
freedom  in  the  use  of  the  particle,  only  92.  These  157  exam- 
ples of  harte  were  united  with  70  different  adjectives  and  adverbs, 
33  of  which  are  found  in  Tristan,  37  others  in  the  rest  of  the 
material.  The  following  are  the  more  usual  combinations, 
arranged  in  order  of  frequency:  harte  wol  22  times,  s^re  19, 
fro  6,  Heine  5,  unlanc  5,  vil  5,  grdz  4,  schdne  4,  starhe  4,  fremde 
3,  guot  3,  michel  3,  suoze  3,  wunderliohen  3,  gerne  3,  Mme  2, 
kurz  2,  Hhte  2,  ndhen  2,  schiere  2,  wert  2,  etc. 

In  the  19  examples  from  the  last  three  monuments  on  the  list, 
representing  the  end  of  the  century,  no  new  combinations  with 
harte  appear,  but  all  are  examples  of  frequently  recurring  and 
well  known  phrases  :  harte  balde,  fremde,  frd,  lihte,  michel,  suoze, 
swaere,  verre,  wunderlichen,  vil,  zorn.  While  harte  with  balde, 
fremde,  michel  and  swaere  are  not  actually  found  elsewhere  in 
Alemannic,  a  comparison  with  Middle  German  and  Bavarian 
usage  shows  that  these  are  old  and  familiar  expressions.^  The 
others  are  frequent  in  Alemannic.     From  the  three  works  of 

1  With  Hugo  von  Langenstein,  Bavarian- Austrian  influence  shows  itself  no 
doubt  in  the  use  of  strengthening  particles  as  well  as  in  the  form  and  inci- 
dents of  his  legend. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        35 

Konrad  von  Wiirzburg,  from  the  middle  of  the  century,  22 
examples  of  harte  are  noted  in  the  above  list.  Not  one  of  these 
is  a  new  combination,  all  of  them  appearing  either  in  early 
Alemannic  works  or  in  early  monuments  from  other  dialects. 
This  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  state  of  affairs  with  regard  to 
vilj  gar,  rehte,  or  any  particle  in  good  current  usage.  With  these 
latter,  each  new  monument  brings  a  host  of  new  words  with 
which  the  particle  is  associated. 

These  considerations  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  harte  became 
obsolete  as  a  general  strengthening  particle  in  Alemannic  during 
the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  In  epic  poetry  the  word 
lived  on  in  the  more  common  locutions  long  after  it  had  gone 
out  of  general  use,  and  the  examples  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
century  are  to  be  regarded  as  fossil  remnants  of  an  older  and 
more  general  use.  They  here  make  up  a  part  of  traditional 
poetical  diction,  which  is  preserved  longer  in  the  court  epic 
than  in  other  forms  of  literature. 

In  Upper  Alemannic,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  works  of 
Rudolf  von  Ems,  harte  was  never  so  common,  and  here  it  dis- 
appeared earlier. 

Another  question  which  naturally  arises  in  this  connection  is, 
do  metrical  considerations  have  anything  to  do  with  the  choice 
of  strengthening  particles?  It  might  be  suspected  that  where 
there  is  room  in  a  line  for  a  two  syllable  word,  harte  or  rehte 
would  be  selected,  if  however  a  single  syllable  were  needed  to 
fill  out  the  line  vil  or  gar  would  be  chosen.  It  would  seem  for 
instance,  in  the  following  lines  from  Wigalois,  that  the  author 
used  a  strengthening  particle,  according  as  he  had  room  for  one 
or  not  in  the  line,  and  that  he  chose  vil  or  harte  without  dis- 
crimination except  as  regards  the  metrical  length  of  the  word. 

si  lachten  unde  wdrenfrd,  105-23. 
des  was  her  Wigalois  vilfrd,  91-11. 
des  wart  diu  maget  harte  frd,  72-5. 

Rudolf  von  Ems,  however,  while  using  harte  with  other 
adjectives,  avoids  it  with  vrd,  and  uses  other  means  of  filling 
out  his  lines.  Compare  the  following  from  Barlaam  und 
Josaphat : 


36       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

Des  maht  dH  iemer  wesen  vrd^  13-29. 
der  herre  was  der  rede  vrd,  15-37. 
des  was  ieh  herzeliche  vrd,  17-32. 
der  voter  was  des  kindes  vrd,  20-29. 
s%ner  Jcunfte  was  er  vro^  108-28. 
daz  sie  mit  im  wdren  vrd,  109-38. 

So  in  Der  Gute  Gerhard  : 

von  mir  des  bin  ich  immer  vr6, 
des  liehen  trdstes  was  ich  vr6,  6269, 
des  was  min  werdiu  vrouwe  vrd,  6311. 
die  ritterschaft  begunde  dd 
in  rittersehefte  wesen  vrdy  6397-8. 

In  these  latter  examples  signs  of  mere  line  filling  are  so 
apparent,  and  harte  suggests  itself  so  naturally  that  its  avoid- 
ance is  striking.  We  may  infer  that  this  combination  is 
unknown  at  this  time  to  the  poet's  dialect. 

Bavarian- Austrian. 

1.  Bavarian.  ^^^^^     j^.^^^^  Per  1000  Per 
a)  Poetical  monuments.  lines,  cent. 

Wolfdietrich  B^ 235  1        

Parzival 293  41  2        14 

Neidhart  von  Reuenthal  (?) 93  4  1          4 

Helrabreht 46  1  ...           2 

DieWarnung(?) 83  3  1          4 

S.  Franciskenleben 109  11  2        10 

Der  Jiingere  Titurel  (?) 154  0         

Lohengrin 90  2  ...          2 

6)  Prose. 

Berthold  von  Kegensburg 366  0         

Altdeutsche  Pred.  Wack.  21-26 6  0        

2.  Austrian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Die  Hochzeit 87  3  3  8 

Genesis 159  2        ...  1 

*  MS8.  K  and  H  read :  si  schlugent  auffgar  baldejr  reysches  gezelt  {gar  schdne  H) 
39-1.  Janicke  reconstructs :  harte  riliche  aluoc  man  Hf  diu  gezelt.  In  view  of 
the  rare  occurrence  of  harte  in  this  monument  it  is  probable  that  gar  was  the 
original  particle  used. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       37 

Total.  Harte.  Per  1000  Per 
lines,  cent. 

Exodus 156  6  ...  4 

Die  Bucher  Mosis 177  7  3  4 

Entricrist 63  1  1  2 

Kindheit  Jesu 83  11  ...  13 

Nibelungenlied,  Version  A 1250  92  10  8 

"                   "       B 82  9  7 

"       C... 71  7  7 

Biterolf  und  Dietleib 701  40  3  6 

Ortnit 126  22  9  17 

Wolfdietrich  A 250  17  7  7 

Ortnit  and  Wolfdietrich  C 46  3  ...  6 

Kudrun 552  62  9  11 

Walther  von  der  Vogelweide 145  1  ...  1 

Karl  der  Grosse 344  27  3  8 

Freidankes  Bescheidenheit 94  7  1  7 

Diu  Krone 395  5  ...  1 

Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein 389  13  2  3 

Garel  (?) 338  22  2  7 

Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg 26  0  

Alexander 101  6  ...  6 

b)  Prose. 

Altd.  Fred,  aus  S.  Paul 181  2  ...  1 

The  tables  for  BavariaD -Austrian  show  a  great  confusion  in 
the  use  of  harte  in  this  dialect.  The  most  striking  feature, 
however,  is  that  those  monuments  which  show  the  highest  per- 
centages belong  for  the  most  part  to  the  popular  or  the  religious 
epic.  They  are  Ortnit,  Kindheit  Jesu,  Kudrun,  Nibelungen, 
Wolfdietrich  A.  Parzival  shows  also  a  very  high  percentage, 
though  the  actual  frequency  is  not  so  great,  2  examples  per 
thousand  lines. 

The  lyrical  works  here  also  show  few  examples  of  harte: 
Albreht  von  Johannsdorf  and  Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg  none, 
Walther  1,  Neidhart  4.  Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein,  whose  works 
are  partly  lyrical,  shows  13. 

Next  to  the  early  popular  epic  and  the  prose  monuments, 
lyric  poetry  may  be  expected  to  show  the  most  accurately  local 
usage  as  to  strengthening  particles.  This  will  appear  more 
plainly  in  the  case  of  gar,  perhaps  less  so  with  harte,  which 
always  seems  to  be  more  or  less  in  disfavor  with  lyric  writers, 
Harte  appears  to  lack  the  elegance  of  such  particles  as  rehte  and 
3 


38       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

gar^  and  the  latter  are  apparently  preferred  wherever  they  are 
current  and  when  a  stronger  particle  than  vil  is  desired.  The 
absence  of  harte  from  the  works  of  Berthold  von  Regensburg, 
Bruder  David  von  Augsburg,  and  Fr.  v.  Sonnenburg  doubtless 
indicates  that  there  was  a  wide  stretch  of  territory  through 
southern  Bavaria,  Swabia,  and  the  Tyrol,  where  from  the  mid- 
dle of  the  thirteenth  century  on,  and  probably  much  earlier, 
harte  was  unknown  to  the  popular  dialect.  The  statistics  for 
Upper  Alemannic  indicate  the  same  for  the  neighboring  Swiss 
provinces.  Throughout  the  whole  territory  gar  was  very  popu- 
lar at  this  time.  Throughout  the  territory  farther  east,  Carin- 
thia,  Styria,  Austria  proper,  as  shown  by  the  works  of  Ulrich 
von  Lichtenstein,  the  Predigten  aus  S.  Paul.,  ISTeidhart,  and  the 
Austrian  popular  epics,  harte  remained  current  much  longer. 
Gar  here  is  scarcely  known,  even  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  In  northern  Bavaria  and  Bohemia,  harte 
was  also  very  popular,  and  continued  current  until  late,  as 
might  be  expected  from  the  proximity  to  East  Prankish,  and 
Thuringia.  Compare  the  statistics  for  Parzival,  Wigalois,  and 
Alexander. 

In  the  epic  poetry  of  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
territorial  distinctions  as  to  the  use  of  harte,  and  indeed  as  to 
diction  in  general,  are  no  longer  felt.  Nor  are  the  stylistic 
differences  between  the  court  and  the  popular  epic  so  apparent. 
By  this  time  the  two  classes  of  literature  had  approached  so 
closely  as  to  intermingle,  and  what  of  form  and  diction  had 
originally  belonged  only  to  the  one  or  the  other,  now  became 
common  property.  Just  as  the  different  incidents  and  episodes 
from  the  works  of  the  earlier  court  poets  were  freely  made  use 
of  by  the  writers  of  the  declining  epic,  so  words,  phrases,  and 
whole  periods,  from  one  class  of  literature,  were  appropriated 
by  the  less  talented  writers  of  other  classes. 

This  universal  custom  of  borrowing  applies  no  doubt  to  a  less 
degree  to  strengthening  particles,  which  are  always  more  or  less 
unconsciously  used,  but  it  still  has  to  be  taken  into  account  even 
with  these,  especially  in  epic  poetry.  For  this  reason  it  is  very 
difficult  to  locate  geographically  or  chronologically  such  expres- 
sions.    These  borrowings  are  not  nearly  so  general  among  lyric 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       39 

writers,  and  in  the  early  popular  epic  much  less  marked  than 
in  the  later.  These  therefore  offer  a  more  reliable  criterion  for 
local  usage  than  the  later  court  epic.^ 

The  evidence  for  the  gradual  disappearance  of  harte  as  a 
strengthening  particle  from  the  spoken  dialect  is  as  strong  here 
as  in  Alemannic.  In  Bavaria  this  takes  place  earlier  than  in 
the  Austrian  provinces.  This  is  shown  by  the  absence  of  the 
particle  in  the  works  of  Berth,  v.  Regensburg,  as  compared  with 
the  examples  from  the  Predigten  aus  St.  Paul.  The  fact  that 
in  Bavaria  gar  appears  so  prominently  in  the  popular  speech, 
renders  the  disappearance  of  harte  at  an  early  stage  the  more 
probable.  In  the  epic  poetry  the  tendency  to  restrict  harte  to 
the  commonest  locutions  is  apparent  from  the  middle  of  the 
century.  Garel  shows  22  examples  which  are  found  with  vr6y 
gdchj  grdz,  meisterliehy  rich,  ringe,  s^re,  seltsaene,  sorcsam,  tiwer, 
unhdch,  veste,  vruo.  Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein  shows  harte  with 
vil,    vruOy   vrdj  gerne,   hdhe,   Meine,   kranc,   swach,   w^nec.     In 

^  The  examples  of  harte  in  the  Kudrun  offer  strong  evidence  of  the  presence 
of  this  particle  in  the  popular  dialect  of  Austria  at  the  time  the  present  ver- 
sion was  produced,  as  contrasted  with  the  dialect  of  the  original.  Various  efforts 
have  been  made  to  separate  the  original  elements  of  the  poem  from  those 
parts  which  belong  only  to  the  Austrian  redaction.  (See  Martin's  introduc- 
tion to  his  edition,  and  Wilmanns,  Die  Entwickelung  der  Kudrundichtung. ) 
Those  strophes  which  are  generally  considered  as  belonging  to  the  original 
version  or  versions  show  examples  of  harte  only  rarely :  harte  Use  668-4,  harte 
sere  995-3,  harte  balde  1361-3.  On  the  other  hand  a  very  frequent  use  of  this 
particle  is  found  in  those  strophes  which  are  looked  upon  as  interpolations  or 
contaminations  of  older  material.  59  of  the  62  examples  of  harte  are  found  in 
such  strophes.  The  author  of  the  Austrian  version  evidently  used  those 
strengthening  particles  which  were  current  in  his  own  dialect. 

In  the  Nibelungen  no  such  difference  is  to  be  noticed  between  the  so-called 
original  stanzas  of  Lachmann  and  those  of  later  origin.  63  per  cent  of  the 
examples  of  harte  are  from  the  original  strophes,  37  per  cent  from  all  others. 
A  striking  fact  however  concerning  the  use  of  harte  here  is  that  more  than  50 
per  cent  of  all  instances  are  from  the  last  line  of  the  stanza,  generally  the  last 
half  line,  which  has  four  accents.  This  might  be  the  result  of  mere  line  fill- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  original  author,  or,  perhaps  in  some  instances,  of  an 
attempt  of  an  interpolator  to  make  a  four  accent  line  out  of  one  which  origi- 
nally had  only  three  (Compare  Heusler,  Altdeutsche  Verskunst).  Other 
monuments  of  a  similar  strophic  form  show  different  statistics  in  this  regard. 
In  Kudrun  40  per  cent  of  all  examples  of  harte  are  from  the  last  line  of  the 
stanza,  in  Ortnit  and  Wolfdietrich  A  about  19,  Wolfd.  D  about  20. 


40        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Bavarian,  Lohengrin  shows  harte  wol  and  harte  weidenlich,. 
This  is  evidence  that  this  particle  is  not  felt  as  a  living  element 
in  the  language. 

The  following  list  shows  the  more  frequent  combinations  with 
harte  in  Bavarian-Austrian  monuments,  in  order  of  frequency* 
The  figures  in  parentheses  show  the  number  of  occurrences  noted 
outside  of  the  three  Nibelungen  versions. 


harte  stre^ 
woL 


48  times,  (30) 
36      "      (27) 


harte  lange, 


vily 

vrdj 

balde, 

groz, 

leitf 

kleinej 

guoty 
"     schiere, 
"    gerne, 
^*     vroelichen, 
"     Mrlich, 
"     w^neCj 

verre, 

hdhe, 

groezliehy 

Mtej 
"    swinde, 
"    gdchf 


25 

22 

21 

21 

22 

16 

15 

14 

14 

13 

12 

10 

10 

10 

9 

9 

9 

7 


(16) 
(14) 

(5) 
(10) 

(2) 
(10) 
(10) 

(7) 
(12) 

(1) 
(1) 
(6) 
(6) 
(3) 
(4) 
(4) 
(5) 
(0) 


swaere,         6 
dickey  7 

ndhen,  6 

selten,  6 

unmaezlichf  6 


"  breity 

"  guetlich, 

"  ritterlichy 

"  tiure, 

"  trijireGy 

"  jdmerlichj 


wite. 


"  vlizeclicheny  3 

"  lobelicheUy    3 

"  ^iifee/,  3 

"  minnedich,  3 


vrwo. 


times,  (7) 

"  (5) 

"  (0> 

"  (0) 

"  (3) 

"  (6) 

"  (0) 

"  (1) 

"  (0) 

"  (4) 

"  (1) 

"  (2) 

"  (1) 

"  (0) 

"  (0) 

"  (0> 

"  (0) 

"  (1) 

"  (1) 

"  (3> 


SWABIAN. 

,   _      .     ,  ,  Total.  Marie.  Per  1000    Per 

a)  Poetical  Monuments.  lines,    cent. 

Wernhere  Maria 92          3  ...  3 

Erec 373          4  11 

Erstes  Biichlein 59  5  3          8 

Gregorius 160  40  10        27 

Armer  Heinrich 81  15  10        18 

Iwein 249  41  5        16 

Zweites  Biichlein „ 15  3  4        20 

Gottfried  Ton  Neifen 88  1  ...          1 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       41 

Total.     Harte.    Per  1000    Per 
lines,    cent. 

Ulrich  von  Winterstetten 138  5  ...  4 

Rosengarten 141  6  ...  4 

WolfdietrichDi 270        14  ...  5 

The  above  list  for  Swabian  shows  a  very  extended  use  of 
ho/rte  by  Hartmann  von  Aue.  The  Gregorius  and  Armer 
Heinrich  each  show  10  examples  per  thousand  lines,  a  degree 
of  frequency  only  reached  by  the  Nibelungen,  Liet  von  Troye, 
Heinrich  und  Kunigunde,  and  Moriz  von  Craon.  The  percent- 
ages are  also  high,  27  and  20.  Only  Flore  and  Blanscheflur 
(28),  Moriz  von  Craon  (34),  Liet  von  Troye  (53)  show  a  higher. 
Gottfried  von  Neifen  has  harte  minneclich  37-21,  Ulrich  v. 
Wint.  shows  harte  with  schedelieh  2-14,  wol  5-7,  ringe  14-14, 
Meine  24-15,  31-23.  The  Rosengarten  shows  harte  with  woly 
grdzj  vr6,  ritterlich,  and  s^re. 

The  nature  of  these  examples  from  the  lyrical  works  and 
Rosengarten  is  such  that  we  may  consider  them,  especially  for 
the  last  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  merely  as  a  part  of  the 
general  traditional  language.  There  is  no  evidence  that  harte 
was  at  this  time  a  part  of  the  Swabian  popular  speech.  The 
treatises  of  Bruder  David  von  Augsburg  (ZfdA  9,  8-55.)  show 
no  traces  of  it.  Berthold  von  Regensburg,  who  spent  much  of 
his  time  in  traveling  and  preaching  in  Swabia,  does  not  use  it. 
Further  prose  monuments  for  this  dialect  and  period  are  not  at 
hand,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  conditions  as  to 
strengthening  particles  here  differ  in  any  marked  degree  from 
those  in  Bavaria.  The  absence  of  this  particle  from  the  sermons 
of  Berthold  is  significant.  Berthold's  diction  is  very  popular, 
and  unlike  Bruder  David,  he  uses  strengthening  particles  very 
freely.  Frequently  he  has  occasion  to  double  them  in  order  to 
give  the  desired  degree  of  emphasis,  as  vil  unde  vil  baz  ii  20-8, 
gar  unde  gar  sehedelichen  I  120-8.  If  harte  had  been  possible 
we  should  expect  Berthold  to  have  used  it.  In  about  375 
examples  of  such  particles  however,  harte  does  not  once  appear. 

1  Wolfdietrich  D,  while  a  Swabian  version,  probably  represents  the  tradi- 
tional Austrian  use  of  strengthening  particles  rather  than  Swabian,  following 
in  this  regard  the  earlier  versions  of  the  same  legend. 


42        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

An  interesting  fact  which  appears  from  the  above  table  is  the 
great  difference  in  the  frequency  of  harte  in  Erec  and  the  other 
works  of  Hartraann.^  Only  four  examples  of  this  particle  are 
found  in  Erec:  harte  stre  484,  wol  1009,  vil  3455,  frd  4861. 
Haupt,  in  his  edition,  assumes  that  the  small  number  of  examples 
of  harte  here  are  to  be  explained  by  the  lateness  of  the  manu- 
script (Ambraser  1504),  or  at  least  he  makes  an  attempt  at 
reconstruction  by  changing  gar  in  a  few  instances  to  harte?  The 
frequency  of  harte  however  in  other  works  preserved  in  the  same 
manuscript,  Moriz  von  Craon,  Kudrun,  Bit.  und  Diet.,  Kon. 
Rother,  Helmbreht,  shows  that  there  has  been  no  general  attempt 
to  replace  obsolete  strengthening  particles  with  those  that  were 
current.^ 

It  is  perhaps  significant  that  the  four  words  with  which  harte 
is  joined  in  the  Ambraser  manuscript  of  Erec,  woly  stre,  frd,  vil, 
are  just  the  four  which  in  Upper  German  were  most  commonly 
found  with  this  particle.'*  This  restriction  of  harte  to  these  old 
and  well  known  locutions  would  ordinarily  indicate  that  the 
word  had  ceased  to  be  felt  as  a  general  strengthening  particle. 
It  is  then  all  the  more  curious  that  in  Hartmann's  later  works 

^  Compare  Vos,  Diction  and  Rime-Technic  of  Hartman  von  Aue,  pp.  20, 
69,  where  this  difference  of  usage  is  first  noticed. 

*  See  Vos,  note  p.  20 ;  Haupt,  note  to  line  5500. 

^  In  the  case  of  the  Nibelungen  and  Iwein  a  conscious  attempt  seems  to  have 
been  made  to  substitute  another  particle  for  harte,  in  both  cases  vast.  Bartsch 
Germ.  X  44,  notices  this  for  the  Nibelungen.  The  passages  are,  1526-4 
harte  balde  —  vast  balde  d  (Ambraser  MS.),  1479-2  h.  groz  —  vast  grdz  d,  85-3  h. 
guot  —  vast  guot  d,  1279-4 1  h.  hMiehen  —  vast  h.  d,  1183-1 1  A.  Mte  —  vast  I.  d, 
643-2  h.  vil  —  vast  v.  d,  1647-2 1  h.  wol  —  vast  w.  d. 

In  Iwein,  according  to  Henrici's  variant  readings,  the  following  differences 
are  noted :  6833  harte  gar  —  iemer  mtr  d,  7238  harte  lange  —  alsd  lange  d,  3514 
harte  richez  —  riterlichez  d,  7916  h.  stceter  —  vast  s.  d,  2299  h.  unrnplieh  —  vast  u. 
d,  6050  h.  verre  —  vast  v.  d,  8131  h.  verre — vil  v.  d,  1029  h.  vil  —  vast  v.  d,  1943 
h.  wol  —  vast  w.  d,  6271  h.  wol  —  genug  wol  d. 

In  the  case  of  Erec  no  attempt  has  been  made  certainly  to  substitute  vaste 
for  harte,  since  only  one  instance  of  it  occurs,  vaste  schone  1536. 

Vaste  as  a  strengthening  particle  has  been  found  elsewhere  only  in  the 
Bav.-Aust.  epic:  Parzival  vaste  frd  395-16,  Kudrun  vaste  greme  410-1,  1456-3 
vast  an,  Bit.  und  Diet,  vaste  guot  1060,  Wolfd.  A  vaste  dicke  252-2. 

These  changes  then  which  the  Ambraser  manuscript  shows  in  the  case  of  the 
Nibelungen  and  Iwein  cannot  have  been  introduced  by  the  scribe.  They  date 
no  doubt  from  some  earlier  Austrian  copyist. 

^  Compare  the  lists  on  pages  34  and  40. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       43 

this  particle  is  not  only  very  frequent,  but  joined  very  freely  to 
different  classes  of  adjectives  and  adverbs.^  The  following  are 
the  examples  of  harte  with  parallel  examples  from  other,  mostly 
Upper  German,  monuments : 

Harte  balde  Iw.  125,'  Parz.  124-23. 

"  drdte  Iw.  208,  247,  Siind.  Wid.  1584. 

"  gar  Iw.  250,  Erlos.  4689. 

"  gerne  Iw.  61,  246,  292,  AH  213,  Kud.  1173-4. 

"  grdz  Gr.  2163,  AH  213,  Nib.  450-2. 

"  guot  Iw.  37,  Gr.  1549,  AH  1218,  Parz.  70-7. 

"  Ueine  Gr.  3124,  3660,  AH  697,  Parz.  529-14. 

"  Magelichen  Iw.  194,  h.  Magebaere  Iw.  253,  KdGr.  1237. 

"  mtzel  Iw.  139,  Nib.  1489-4. 

*'  lange  Iw.  265,  Nib.  848-2. 

"  Use  Gr.  358,  Kud.  668-4. 

"  lobebaere  Gr.  1818,  lobeliche  Kud.  1103-2. 

"  maneo  Erst.  B.  697,  Ex.  137-16. 

"  ndt  Gr.  584,  Wig.  114-11. 

"  riuwevar  Iw.    182,   Gr.   428,   2327,   riuwee  Gr.   2529, 

Gen.  27-5. 

"  ringe  Iw.  145,  Nib.  25^-4. 

"  rich  Iw.  134,  Gr.  2033,  Kud.  1108-2. 

"  sehdne  Iw.  88,  schoene  Iw.   169,  Gr.  3281,  3379,  AH 

1375,  Parz.  236-22. 

"  staete  Iw.  288,  Gr.  2184,  Kud.  19-4. 

"  sanfte  Iw.  132,  Siind.  Wider.  2533. 

^A  comparison  of  the  lines  containing  harte  in  Erec  and  Iwein  with  the 
corresponding  passages  in  the  works  of  Chretien  de  Troyes  shows  that  Hart- 
mann  in  the  use  of  this  particle  is  not  following  anything  in  his  original. 
Chretien  uses  as  strengthening  particles:  forment,  equivalent  to  harte,  formant 
an  fu  joianz  ei  liez,  Erec  372 ;  mout,  equivalent  to  ml,  une  mout  bele  conjointurej 
Erec  14 ;  tres,  OHG  drato,  ne  vuel  pas  que  vos  anpreigniez  battaille  si  ires  fdenesse, 
Iwein  3739 ;  par,  OHG  franif  qui  iant  par  est  hele  a  mervoille,  Erec  535 ;  assez 
(genuoc),  assez  plus  que  dit  ne  vos  ai,  Iwein  6745. 

Hartmann  does  not  follow  his  original  so  closely  as  to  render  these  particles 
directly  into  their  German  equivalents.  Aside  from  his  free  treatment  of  the 
material,  considerations  of  rime  and  metrics  would  make  a  literal  translation 
well  nigh  impossible. 

2  For  Iwein  the  figures  refer  to  the  divisions  in  Lachmann's  edition. 


44       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Harte  schiere  Iw.  147,  Gr.  2330,  Parz.  35-6. 

"  s^re  Iw.  211,  Erst.  B.  861,  Gr.  236,  Kud.  995-3. 

"  spdte  Gr.  2812,  Kud.  1274-1. 

"  stdrdiche  Gr.  3829,  starke  Gr.  1765,  Bit.  u.  Diet.  9202. 

«  swdre  Erst.  B.  1415,  Mb.  1176-2. 

«  schddeliche  Gr.  1278,  Bit.  u.  Diet.  1425. 

''  unsanfte  Erst.  B.  298,  Kud.  489-4. 

^'  unsuoze  Gr.  3452,  Yom  jiingst.  Ger.  Diemer  290-4. 

"  ungeliche  Zw.  B.  172,  Biicher  Mosis  68-11. 

''  veste  Iw.  165,  Garel  8510. 

''  vremde  Iw.  263,  Ex.  120-9. 

"  verre  Iw.  46,  221,  223,  AH  928,  Kud.  702-4. 

''  vrd  Iw.  210,  Gr.  2532,  3075,  3326,  Nib.  275-2. 

''  vil  Iw.  47,  111,  196,  230,  Gr.  2321,  3778,  Nib.  353-2. 

''  vrum  Gr.  1886,  Kon.  Roth.  4148. 

"  wol  Iw.  43  etc..  Nib.  772-2. 

"  wis  Gr.  491,  Hein.  u.  Kun.  313. 

''  wilde  Iw.  25,  Tristan  15969. 

"  zierlich  Iw.  30,  Nib.  733-4  II. 

"  zornUehe  Iw.  172,  Nib.  826-4  II. 

Harte  with  the  followiug  wor^s  has  been  found  only  with 
Hartmann :  karclichen  Gr.  2106,  muezediehen  AH  1220  milte 
Iw.  261,  strenge  Gr.  3020,  unwiplich  Iw.  92,  unmugelich  AH  189. 

From  the  above  list  it  may  be  seen  that  nearly  every  instance 
of  harte  in  Hartmann  can  be  paralleled  from  the  Austrian 
popular  epic.  Certain  expressions  at  this  time  seem  to  belong 
exclusively  to  the  popular  diction,  harte  lutzel^  Use,  lobeliohen, 
rich.  Many  of  the  examples  from  the  above  list  have  not  been 
paralleled  from  Alemannic  writers,  as  harte  with :  drdte,  lise^ 
lobebaere,  riuweo,  saiiftej  staete,  spdte,  starJce,  schadeliohef  zierlich. 

These  facts  seem  to  indicate  that  Hartmann  was  influenced  in 
his  later  works  by  the  Bavarian-Austrian  usage  as  shown  in  the 
popular  epic  and  Parzival.  It  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that 
this  influence  came  directly  from  these  popular  works,  some  of 
them  being  perhaps  later  than  Hartmann's.  The  same  local 
usage  however  that  made  itself  felt  in  the  popular  epic  evidently 
had  its  influence  on  Hartmann.     If  this  be  true,  it  would  be 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.       46 

natural  to  suppose  that  in  his  earliest  work,  Erec,  written  no 
doubt  before  his  undertaking  the  crusade,  and  before  he  had 
<K)me  in  contact  to  any  great  extent  with  the  class  of  literature 
prevalent  in  Bavaria  and  Austria,  this  influence  would  be 
absent.^  Hartmann's  use  of  strengthening  particles  then  in 
Erec  would  be,  to  a  much  greater  extent,  a  reflection  of  the 
local  usage  in  Swabia.^ 

i^nother  sign  of  Austrian  influence  upon  Hartmann  in  his 
later  works  is  his  use  of  the  particle  starhe.^  This  word  as  a 
strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  has  been  found  only  in 
the  works  of  Hartmann  and  the  Austrian  popular  or  declining 
court  epic. 

West  Middle  German. 

Total.  Harte.  Per  1000    Per 

1.  Moselfrankish.  Unes.    cent 

Vorau  Alexander  * 54           6  4  11 

Rolandslied 400  17  2           4 

KonigRother 144  37  7         26 

Orendel..... 202  18  5           9 

Strassburg  Alexander 268  25  3           9 

SanctBrandan 102           3  13 

2.  Rhinefrankish. 

Friedrich  von  Hansen 17  1  2  6 

3.  Hessian. 

Athis  und  Prophilias 36  7  5          20 

LietvonTroye 119  63  13         53 

Erlosung 124  9  18 

Elisabeth.... 99  1  ...           1 

1  In  this  connection  compare  the  use  of  harte  in  the  works  of  Konrad  von 
Wiirzburg,  who  seems  also  to  follow  literary  tradition  as  to  this  particle  more 
and  more  in  his  later  works.  Der  Trojanische  Krieg  shows  1.4  examples  per 
thousand  lines,  Keiser  Otte  3,  Alexius  5,  Engelhard  more  than  5. 

Compare  also  Rudolf  von  Ems,  who  shows  2  examples  in  Der  Gute  Gerhard, 
4  in  Barlaam  und  Josaphat. 

2  For  the  supposed  influence  of  Ulrich  von  Zatzikhoven's  Lanzelet  upon 
Hartmann  as  shown  in  the  Erec,  see  Gruhn,  ZfdA  43,  p.  265  ff. 

^  Compare  the  data  as  to  starke  under  a  separate  heading. 

*The  Vorau  version  of  the  Alexander,  besides  having  a  slightly  higher 
percentage  for  harte,  shows  other  marks  of  popular  influence,  especially  in  the 
frequency  of  such  expressions  as  dvd  wie,  6wi  we,  d  vfi.  These  sometimes  take 
the  place  of  strengthening  particles  in  the  Strassburg  version.  Cf.  Vor.  1071, 
Str.  1489;  Vor.  1097,  Str.  1515;  Vor.  1290,  Str.  1792. 


46        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

Although  the  use  of  harte  was  by  no  means  regular  or  uniform 
in  WMG,  the  above  table  will  show  that  it  was  considerably 
greater  than  for  Upper  German.  The  word  seems  to  have  come 
into  popularity  here  earlier  than  in  Upper  Germany,  and  its  use 
is  more  general.  The  first  five  monuments  on  the  list  for 
Moselfrankish,  all  from  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century, 
show  a  greater  actual  frequency,  and  a  higher  percentage  than  do 
the  Bavarian-Austrian  works  of  the  same  period.  That  the  use 
of  harte  was  more  general,  is  shown  by  the  freer  way  in  which 
it  is  joined  to  adjectives  and  adverbs.  Many  combinations  are 
found  here  which  do  not  occur  in  Upper  German,  and  a  larger 
class  of  words  to  which  it  may  be  joined  is  included.^ 

Harte  with  adjectives  and  adverbs  in  -liohy  4iGhe(n)  is  especially 
frequent.  Of  the  37  examples  in  Konig  Eother,  21  are  with 
such  words,  and  10  of  the  17  in  the  Eolandslied.  The  former 
is  supposed  by  the  editor  to  have  been  written  in  Bavaria  by  a 
Frankish  *^  Spielmann."  Although  the  examples  of  harte  are 
here  more  frequent  than  in  other  Middle  Frankish  works,  this 
tendency  to  associate  the  particle  with  words  in  lich  indicates 
that  its  use  here  is  distinctly  Frankish,  rather  than  due  to 
Bavarian  influence. 

Orendel  shows  18  examples  of  harte:  harte  hleine  and  harte 
grdz  17  times.^  This  condition  of  affairs,  where  harte  is  confined 
to  such  locutions  as  these,  we  should  expect  to  find  only  in  works 
of  a  much  later  date  than  1160,  which  is  given  by  Berger  as  the 
probable  date  of  the  original  version.  The  frequency  of  gar  in 
this  monument  indicates  also  a  later  date,  as  gar  did  not  make 
its  way  into  the  literary  language  of  this  dialect  to  any  great 
extent  until  well  into  the  next  century.  The  popular  nature  of 
the  poem  may  have  something  to  do  with  the  matter,  though  in 
the  case  of  gar,  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  current  so  early 
in  the  popular  speech. 

Sanct  Brandan  shows  a  smaller  number  of  examples  than 

^  Harte  with  ellenthaft,  garwe,  genote,  gemeit,  kunidichen,  Hep,  lussam,  nutze,  reine, 
stoh,  tougen,  vdplichen,  etc. 

^This  poem,  which  bears  evidence  of  contamination  and  interpolation, 
shows  frequent  repetitions  of  lines  and  passages.  Harte  groz  occurs  only  in 
the  line  mit  harte  grdzen  iren,  which  is  found  17  times  in  the  poem. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        47 

would  be  expected  here  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  words  with  which  harte  is  joined  however,  wMich 
339,  giletlichen  1637,  wildgevar  1892,  indicate  that  the  particle 
was  in  active  use  and  not  limited  to  the  more  common  locutions. 

The  highest  percentage  for  harte  for  all  dialects  and  all  periods 
is  reached  in  the  Liet  von  Troye  (1215).  Harte  here  forms  53 
per  cent  of  all  the  particles  used,  and  occurs  nearly  13  times  per 
thousand  lines.  One  Thuringian  monument,  Heinrich  und 
Kunigunde,  shows  about  14  instances  of  harte  per  thousand 
lines,  but  it  constitutes  there  only  22  per  cent  of  all  particles. 

There  is  probably  a  distinction  to  be  made  in  the  use  of  this 
particle  between  Hessian  and  other  WMG  dialects.  In  Hessian 
at  least,  vil  had  taken  a  very  subordinate  position  early  in  the 
century.  Its  place  during  the  first  part  of  the  century  was 
taken,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  Liet  von  Troye,  by  harte ;  for 
the  latter  part,  as  in  the  Erlosung  and  Elisabeth,  by  gar.  The 
general  popular  use  of  harte  here  is  the  more  probable  because 
it  was  current  also  in  the  neighboring  province  of  Thuringia. 

The  decline  in  the  use  of  harte  toward  the  end  of  the  century 
is  very  marked  in  the  Hessian  dialect.  The  examples  in  the 
Erlosung  (1295)  harte  wol,  vil,  lange,  wirdeclichen,  garwe,  do  not 
indicate  that  its  use  was  limited  entirely  to  formal  literary 
expressions,  but  they  show  a  tendency  in  that  direction.  The 
Elisabeth  shows  a  still  lesser  use  of  harte,  harte  genuoch  being 
the  only  instance  in  5000  lines. 

The  list  of  words  with  which  harte  is  most  frequently  joined 
in  WMG  shows  a  slight  difference  between  WMG  and  Upper 
German  usage.  They  are  :  grdz  23  times,  wol  17,  vil  16,  schdne 
and  lano  6,  vromicliche,  stre,  and  wisliche,  each  4,  Hep  and  lussam 
each  3. 

Thuringian. 

Total.      Harte.    Per  1000    Per 
lines,    cent. 

Heinrich  und  Kunigunde 288         62  14        22 

VaterUnser 122         26  6        21 

Der  Siinden  Widerstreit 188         33  9        18 

Tristan 121  5  14 

The  table  for  Thuringian  shows  a  free  use  of  harte  at  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  which  gradually  decreases 


48        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

until  the  end.  The  lyrical  works  show  no  examples  at  all. 
Heinrich  und  Kunigunde  shows  the  highest  actual  frequency 
and  the  highest  percentage  for  harte.  In  this  monument  the 
combinations  are  very  free,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that 
harte  at  this  time  was  a  part  of  the  Thuringian  popular  speech. 
Besides  the  more  common  phrases  we  find :  harte  bdse,  heiserliohy 
hiusch,  reinej  rdt^  scharf,  tiure,  unsaelec,  gewis^  sieher^  sagebaere. 

The  Vater  Unser,  from  the  middle  of  the  century,  shows  less 
than  half  as  many  examples,  but  the  percentage  is  about  the 
same.  Here  too  the  combinations  are  free,  harte  wise^  rehte, 
slehtf  hrdde,  hluog^  being  found  besides  the  more  common 
expressions. 

In  Der  Siinden  Widerstreit  the  33  examples  of  harte  are  With 
22  different  words.  Although  these  happen  to  be  the  words 
with  which  harte  is  quite  commonly  found,  they  are  sufficient 
in  number  to  show  that  this  particle  is  still  freely  used. 

In  Tristan  but  5  examples  are  found  in  5000  lines,  and  these 
constitute  but  4  per  cent  of  all  particles.  These  do  not  seem 
to  be  limited  to  the  common  locutions,  harte  megetlich,  harte 
minnecUahenj  harte  stolzlichy  harte  viL  It  would  seem  that  here  as 
in  Hessian  harte  was  felt  until  late  in  the  century  as  a  general 
strengthening  particle. 

The  sermons  of  Eckard,  Wackernagel  60-61,  65-66,  show 
only  4  examples  of  strengthening  particles,  all  of  which  are  gar. 

South  and  East  Frankish. 

Total. 

1.  East  Frankish. 

Mariae  Himmelfahrt 34 

Wigalois 377 

Der  Eenner 137 

2.  South  Frankish. 
Moriz  von  Craon 56 

Reinmar  von  Zweter 130 

South  and  East  Frankish  monuments  show  likewise  a  free  use 
of  harte  early  in  the  century.  Moriz  von  Craon  from  near  the 
Alemannic  border,  probably  shows  Alemannic  influence.  The 
lyric  monument  of  this  group  shows  only  a  single  instance  of 


Tarte. 

Per  1000    Per 

lines,    cent. 

6 

17 

55 

6        14 

4 

4          3 

19 

11        34 

1 

1 

Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       49 

harte.     The  examples  from  the  Renner  are  limited  to  the  stereo- 
typed expressions  harte  wol  and  harte  wunneclich. 


GAR. 

Gar  J  as  an  indefinite  strengthening  particle,  is  found  as  early 
as  the  twelfth  century  in  Upper  German.  The  original  meaning 
of  OHG  garoj  used  adjectively,  was  prepared,  complete.  As  an 
adverb  garo,  garawo,  meant  entirely,  ganz  und  gar.  Both  of  these 
uses  extend  into  the  MHG  period.  Konig  Rother  3411,  zwelif 
d4sent  ritdre  wale  gare,  (twelve  thousand  knights  well  prepared 
for  war)  is  an  instance  of  the  first.  Gar  however  is  generally 
used  in  MHG  adverbially,  and  is  generally  defined  in  the 
dictionaries  as  meaning  completely?  While  the  examples  from 
the  twelfth  and  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  centuries  are  meager, 
there  is  no  doubt  that,  as  applied  to  adjectives  and  adverbs, 
this  word  had  become  weakened  in  force  to  a  mere  indefinite 
strengthening  particle.  By  the  end  of  the  century  it  had 
become  well  established  in  this  use  in  the  literary  language  of 
all  dialects. 

The  process  of  weakening  of  gar  is  quite  parallel  to  that 
through  which  modern  German  ganz  has  passed.  Gar  as 
applied  to  an  adjective  or  an  adverb  originally  signified  the 
highest  degree  or  completeness  of  the  quality  under  considera- 
tion. Gar  guot,  and  later  ganz  gut,  were  then  equivalent  to 
MHG  vollen  guot,  and  meant  perfect.  Then  from  the  easy  habit 
of  exaggeration,  always  a  characteristic  of  popular  speech,  the 
word  came  to  be  applied  where  the  quality  instead  of  being 
absolute  was  only  relatively  high,  and  the  expression  began  to 
be  taken  with  a  grain  of  allowance.  In  the  case  of  gar  this 
discounting  of  the  face  value  went  on  so  far  that  its  original 
meaning  was  lost  sight  of  entirely.  In  the  works  of  Berthold 
von  Regensburg  gar  is  no  longer  felt  as  having  any  of  its  old 
meaning  of  completeness.  When  the  author  wishes  his  readers 
to  take  the  word  literally,  in  its  strongest  sense,  he  finds  it 

^  Benecke-Miiller-Zarncke,  I  480^,  5-31.  Lexer  I  738,  gar,  gdndich,  vdUig^ 
ganz  und  gar.    Haupt,  Erec,  note  to  line  5600. 


50        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

necessary  to  repeat  the  particle  :  gar  unde  ga.r  woly  I  44-7,  gar 
unde  gar  uherguot  II  36-18.  The  author  of  the  Erl5sung 
(1295),  uses  a  similar  device,  that  of  adding  tiie  word  ganz^  der 
kinde  zal  hdn  ich  gelesen  ganz  gar  ungesundert,  3645-6.  In  the 
case  of  modern  German  ganz  the  weakening  has  gone  so  far  that 
ganz  gut,  ganz  selten,  mean  rather  less  than  sehr  gut,  sehr  selten, 
and  approach  the  meaning  passably  good,  not  very  often.  The 
phrase  ganz  und  gar  is  thus  merely  an  effort  to  retrieve  the  lost 
meaning  of  ganz  and  make  a  strong  expression  out  of  two 
weak  ones. 

In  the  earlier  MHG  works  it  is  often  difficult  to  determine 
whether  gar  is  used  in  its  original  and  more  general  sense,  or 
whether  it  is  weakened  and  takes  the  place  of  some  other  indefi- 
nite particle.  With  adjectives  and  adverbs  representing  an 
absolute  quality,  that  is,  one  not  capable  of  different  degrees  of 
intensity,  it  has  necessarily  the  former  meaning.  If,  however, 
the  word  denotes  a  quality  only  nominally  absolute,  and  this  can 
be  determined  only  by  the  context,  then  the  particle  could  have 
correspondingly  weakened  force.  This  is  in  fact  a  very  frequent 
occurrence.  Gar  I4ter,  gar  durhliuhtec,  like  vil  unschuldeo,  vil 
eine,  would  often  represent  merely  an  indefinite  degree  of  the 
quality  under  consideration. 

When  gar  is  joined  to  adjectives  and  adverbs  with  the  prefix 
un-f  the  particle  might  seem  to  retain  its  original  meaning  of 
entirely,  completely.  The  dictionary  of  Benecke-Mtiller-Zarncke 
quotes  gar  ungerne,  Arm.  Hein.  179,  gar  unmaere,  Walth. 
65-15,  as  instances  of  such  a  usage.  If  we  remember  however 
that  these  words  with  the  prefix  un-  in  MHG  do  not  necessarily 
denote  a  negative  notion,  but  usually  one  that  is  decidedly  positive, 
we  see  at  once  that  gar  may  here  express  merely  high  degree. 
Just  as  vil  lutzely  vil  kleine,  usually  took  on  the  derived  meaning 
not  at  all,  so  unhovelieh  often  expressed  not  a  mere  absence  of 
the  quality  of  Hoflichheit,  but  the  presence  of  its  direct  opposite. 
Gar  unhovelieh  could  be  rendered  then  very  impolite,  very  rude. 
Likewise  gar  unsanjte,  very  roughly  ;  gar  unverre,  very  near. 

The  accent  of  the  word  would  have  something  to  do  with  the 
turn  of  its  meaning.  Strongly  accented  it  would  necessarily 
mean  ganz  und  gar.     In  verse  this  might  happen  if  it  were 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.       51 

placed  at  the  point  of  chief  accent,  the  end  of  the  line.  Or  the 
emphasis  might  be  indicated  by  placing  the  word  out  of  its  usual 
position.  For  this  reason  gar  in  postposition,  or  before  the 
indefinite  article,  or  falling  at  the  end  of  the  line,  would  be  more 
likely  to  have  its  stronger  original  meaning.  Compare  :  daz  er 
^widichen  gar  wil  irliuhten  ir  schar.  Vat.  Uns.  1983-4. 

Throughout  the  earlier  period,  gar  was  doubtless  felt  as  a 
much  stronger  particle  than  vil.  In  the  literary  language  it  had 
the  element  of  freshness,  and  the  implied  comparison  with  the 
idea  of  completeness  was  no  doubt  felt.  Though  never,  perhaps, 
so  strong  as  harte^  it  came  into  vogue  at  a  time  when  that  particle 
was  distinctly  felt  to  be  quaint  and  obsolescent. 

The  following  lists  will  show  that  gar  during  this  period  is 
capable  of  being  joined  to  any  class  of  adjectives  or  adverbs 
whatever.  In  the  earliest  examples  the  more  common  of  these 
words :  balde^  diche,  gerne,  maneCy  schiere,  s^re,  schdne,  vilj  wol, 
etc.,  are  perhaps  conspicuously  lacking.  It  was  with  just  such 
familiar  words  as  these,  however,  that  the  older  particles,  vil, 
woly  hartey  were  retained  the  longest.  Gar  is  just  coming  into 
prominence  in  the  literary  language  during  this  period,  and  it 
naturally  obtained  a  footing  first  with  those  words  with  which 
the  older  particles  had  not  been  so  closely  associated.  With  the 
more  common  adjectives  and  adverbs  it  displaced  these  older 
particles  but  slowly. 

Alemannic. 

1.  Poetical  monuments.  Total.       Gar.       Per 

a)  Lower  Alemannic.  cent. 

Reinmar  von  Hagenau 88  2  2 

Tristan 412  0  0 

Flore  und  Blanscheflur 82  5  6 

DieGuteFrau 86  5  6 

Das  Steinbuch 27  0  0 

Der  Trojanische  Krieg 351  29  8 

Keiser  Otte  mit  dem  Barte 22  2  9 

Alexius 110  7  6 

Martina 268  19  7 

Eeinfried  von  Braunschweig 97  21  21 

Peter  von  Stauffenberg 46  7  15 

b)  Upper  Alemannic 

Der  Gute  Gerhard 218  7  3 


52       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Total.  Gar.  Per 
cent. 

Barlaam  und  Josaphat 304  9  3 

Johannes  Hadlaub 106  37  35 

2.  Prose. 

Altd.  Predigt.  Wack.  42-52 26  4  15 

Pred.  d.  13  Jahrh.  Grieshaber 53  36  68 

Pred.  auf.  Job.  d.  Taufer 3  2  66 

The  Alemannic  epics  show  more  clearly  perhaps  than  the 
monuments  of  any  other  dialect,  the  gradual  coming  into  liter- 
ary usage  of  this  particle.  The  percentage  for  gar,  as  shown 
by  the  above  table,  gradually  increases,  with  few  exceptions,, 
throughout  the  whole  period.  Tristan  with  no  examples  dates 
from  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Rein.  v.  Braun. 
and  Peter  v.  Stauf.,  which  show  the  highest  percentages  for 
Lower  Alemannic,  are  from  the  end.  The  two  lyrical  monu- 
ments, Reinmar  and  Joh.  Hadlaub,  show  a  higher  percentage 
than  their  position  in  the  table  would  warrant. 

The  Alemannic  Predigten  of  Wackernagel  (sermons  42-52) 
show  very  rare  instances  oi  gar,  and  for  this  reason  are  probably 
to  be  placed  very  early  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Grieshabers 
Altd.  Predigt.  show  a  percentage  of  68,  which  indicates,  as^ 
mentioned  under  the  discussion  of  vil,  that  they  should  be  placed 
in  the  fourteenth  century. 

In  Upper  Alemannic  gar  probably  came  into  popularity 
earlier  than  in  Lower  Alemannic.  Harte  disappeared  here  very 
early,  as  we  have  seen.  The  percentage  of  35  for  this  particle 
in  the  works  of  Johannes  Hadlaub  (1302)  shows  that  by  this 
time  it  had  become  quite  familiar. 

The  words  with  which  gar  is  joined  in  the  poetical  monuments 
are  numerous,  as  is  to  be  expected  in  the  case  of  a  particle  just 
coming  into  prominence.  The  contrast  in  this  regard  between 
gar  and  harte  is  very  marked.  The  following  are  the  most 
frequent  combinations  :  gar  inneclioh,  Mter,  4  times  each  ;  elent- 
riche,  minnecliGhe,  ritterliche,  vlizediche,  3  times  each ;  gehiure, 
hdch,  gewaltec,  liutsaelec,  truebe,  senfte,  unmaere^  unmdzeny 
unsanjte,  unlange,  wunderlich,  twice. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,         63 
Bavarian- Austrian. 

1.  Bavarian.  Total.       Qar.      Per 
a)  Poetical  monuments.  cent. 

Albreht  von  Johannsdorf. 13  1  8 

Parzival 293  7  2 

Wolfdietrich  B 235  7  3 

Neidhart  von  Eeuenthal 93  4  4 

Die  Warnung 83  2  2 

S.  Francisken  Leben 109  11  10 

Der  Heilige  Georg 86  6  7 

Der  Jiingere  Titurel  (?) 154  17  11 

Lohengrin 90  35  39 

h)  Prose. 

Berthold  von  Kegensburg 366  266  73 

2.  Austrian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Genesis 159  1 

Enticrist 53  2  4 

KindheitJesu 83  1  1 

Ortnit , 126  1  1 

Wolfdietrich  A , 250  1 

Ortnit  and  Wolfdietrich  C 46  1  2 

Kudrun 552  2 

Walther 145  11  7 

Karl  der  Grosse 344  4  1 

Freidankes  Bescheidenheit 94  2  2 

Diu  Krone 395  15  4 

Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein 389  12  3 

Garel  von  dem  bluhenden  Tal  (?) 338  8  2 

Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg 26  6  24 

Alexander 101  13  13 

b)  Prose. 

Altdeutsche  Predigten  aus  S.  Paul  (1300) 181  0 

From  the  above  tables  for  Bavarian- Austrian,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  lyrical  monuments,  Alb.  v.  Johannsdorf  and  Walther, 
show  relatively  high  percentages.  In  the  Austrian  popular  epic 
gar  is  remarkably  rare.  The  Nibelungenlied  offers  one  instance 
from  the  version  C,  Kudrun  2,  Biterolf  und  Dietleib  none, 
Ortnit  and  the  different  version  of  the  Wolfdietrich  very  few. 
The  Bavarian  monuments  show  the  greatest  frequency  of  this 
particle  and  the  highest  percentages,  S.  Francisken  Leben  10 
per  cent,  Lohengrin  39.  Ulrich  von  Eschenbach  who  follows 
the  traditions  of  the  court  epic  more  closely,  and  who  perhaps 
4 


54       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

represents  the  local  usage  of  Bohemia,  uses  this  particle  rather 
sparingly,  though  he  writes  from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century. 

The  absence  of  gar  from  the  early  Austrian  popular  epic 
indicates  that  this  particle  was  not  current  in  the  popular  dialect 
of  that  region  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Con- 
sidering the  great  frequency  of  strengthening  particles  in  the 
Nibelungen,  and  the  great  variety  there  offered,  there  is  no  way 
to  account  for  the  absence  of  gar  except  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  unknown  to  the  popular  speech.  Biterolf  und  Dietleib, 
from  Styria,  suggests  the  same  state  of  affairs  for  that  part  of 
the  territory.  The  examples  of  gar  in  the  later  popular  epic^ 
especially  the  later  versions  of  Wolfdietrich,  may  be  ascribed  to 
local  influence  in  the  different  dialects  in  which  they  were  pro- 
duced, or  to  the  fact  that  by  this  time  gar  had  become  a  rather 
common  literary  term.  Further  indications  of  the  absence  of 
gar  from  the  popular  speech  in  certain  parts  of  the  Austrian 
territory  is  offered  by  its  absence  from  the  Predigten  aus  S^ 
Paul.,  from  Carinthia. 

Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein  (Styria,  1255-67)  shows  a  percentage 
of  3  for  gar.  His  use  of  this  particle  is  no  doubt  due  to  the 
influence  of  gar  in  the  other  literature  of  his  time  rather  than 
from  any  natural  tendency  to  use  it.  Had  gar  been  current  in 
his  native  dialect,  considering  his  fondness  for  effusive  and 
emphatic  declaration,  we  should  expect  every  page  of  his  poetry 
to  show  numerous  examples. 

That  gar  was  current  however  in  Bavaria,  is  shown  by  it& 
frequency  in  the  Bavarian  epics  mentioned  above,  and  by  the 
sermons  of  Berthold  von  Begensburg,  These  show  in  800O 
long  lines  266  examples,  or  73  per  cent  of  all  particles. 

In  the  poetical  monuments  of  Bavarian- Austrian,  the  number 
of  adjectives  and  adverbs  with  which  gar  is  associated  is  very 
great;  gar  vil  occurs  5  times,  gar  schdne,  4  times;  gar  with 
gesunty  unmaere^  3  times ;  with  bereit,  dicke,  heimUchen,  Mre,  muedey 
riche,  unverzaget,  unsinneclioh,  unsanfte,  wunnecUchy  wol,  twice. 
Berthold  von  Regensburg,  in  the  sermons  examined,  uses  gar 
wol  37  times,  gar  vil  26,  gar  grdz  12,  gar  guot  11,  gar  Ubel  8^ 
as  compared  with  vil  wol  17^  vil  grdz  1,  vil  guot  1,  vil  uhd  1» 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       65 

SWABIAN. 

Total.  Gar.  Per  1000     Per 

a)  Poetical  monuments.  lines,    cent. 

Erec 373  9  1        2.6 

Gregorius 150  2  ...         1 

Der  Arme  Heinrich 81  1  ...         1 

Gottfried  von  Neifen 88  4  2  5 

Ulrich  von  Winterstetten 138  7  3  5 

Der  Marner 54  5  1  10 

Eosengarten... 141  26  ...  19 

Wolfdietrich  D..... 270  9  ...  3 

b)  Prose. 

Bruder  David  von  Augsburg 15        11        ...       70 

The  above  table  shows  a  gradually  increasing  use  of  gar  in 
Swabian  throughout  the  whole  period.  Hartmann  makes  a 
very  sparing  use  of  this  particle  except  in  Erec.  The  presence 
of  gar  in  Erec  to  a  greater  extent  than  in  his  later  works,  where 
he  is  more  in  line  with  traditional  usage,  ib  to  be  taken  as 
evidence  that  he  took  this  particle  from  his  native  dialect.  Its 
increasing  frequency  in  the  later  lyrical  monuments  and  in 
Rosengarten,  indicates  the  growing  popularity  of  gar  in  the 
popular  speech.  Wolfdietrich  D  follows  doubtless  the  tradi- 
tional word  usage  of  the  older  versions,  though  the  presence  of 
gar  is  probably  the  result  of  local  influence. 

The  popularity  oi  gar  during  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century  in  Bavaria,  doubtless  extended  also  into  Swabian  terri- 
tory, especially  the  southern  part,  and  reached  over  into  Upper 
Alemannic.  Bruder  David  von  Augsburg  shows  the  same 
percentage  for  gar  as  Berthold  von  Regensburg,  though  he  does 
not  use  strengthening  particles  so  frequently. 

West  Middle  German. 

Total.  Gar.  Per  1000  Per 

a)  Moselfrankish.  lines,  cent. 

Orendel 202  14  3  7 

Sanct  Brandan 102  8  4  8 

h)  Khinefrankish. 

Friedrich  von  Hausen 17  2  4  12 

c)  Hessian. 

Athis  und  Prophilias 36  0 

Liet  von  Troye 119  4  1  3 

Erlosung 124  80  14  64 

Elisabeth 99  44  9  44 


56        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

In  WMG  gar  is  practically  unknown  as  a  strengthening  par- 
ticle before  the  thirteenth  century.  Orendel  shows  14  examples, 
but  in  view  of  its  absence  in  other  important  monuments,  it  is 
altogether  likely  that  these  belong  to  a  later  reworking  of  the 
poem,  and  not  to  the  original  version,  which  the  editor  dates 
about  1160.  Sanct  Brandan  (1200)  is  the  first  monument  to 
show  reliable  examples  of  this  particle,  which  occurs  here  8 
times. 

In  the  Hessian  dialect,  Herbort  von  Fritslar  (1215)  uses  gar 
very  rarely  in  the  Liet  v.  Troye,  4  times  in  5000  lines.  Some 
of  these  instances  may  perhaps  be  questioned.  In  the  Erlosung 
(1295)  gar  is  the  chief  strengthener,  80  examples  being  found 
and  these  constituting  64  per  cent  of  all  particles  used.  In 
the  Elisabeth  gar  is  also  the  most  frequent  particle,  though  it 
shows  here  a  percentage  of  only  44.  The  predominance  of  gar 
at  this  period  in  Hessian  and  Thuringian,  as  shown  by  its  use 
in  the  poetical  monuments,  is  more  decided  than  anywhere  else 
in  the  MHG  field.  This  is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  early 
decline  of  vil  in  these  dialects. 

Thueingian. 

Total.  Oar.  Per  1000  Per 

a)  Poetical  monuments.  lines,  cent. 

Heinrich  von  Morungen 43  1  ...  2 

Heinrich  und  Kunigunde 288  2  ...  1 

VaterUnser 122  2  ...  2 

Der  Siinden  Widerstreit 188  13  4  7 

Heinrich  von  Meissen. 88  21  4  24 

Tristan 121  65  13  64 

h)  Prose. 

Sermonsof  Eckard,Wack.55, 56,60,  61 4  4  ...  100 

In  Thuringian  ^ar  is  rare  before  the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  lyrics  of  Heinrich  von  Morungen  show  gar  unh6 
133-26 ;  Heinrich  und  Kunigunde,  gar  reht  175,  gar  lihte  2604; 
Vater  Unser  gar  gebriiderliche  175,  als  gar  gehdrsam  1878.  In 
the  lyrics  of  Heinrich  von  Meissen  gar  is  much  more  popular, 
and  in  the  Tristan  Fortsetzung  of  Heinrich  von  Frieberg  it  con- 
stitutes 54  per  cent  of  all  strengthening  particles. 

That  gar  was  current  in  the  popular  speech  of  this  dialect  by 
the  end  of  the  century  at  least,  is  to  be  assumed  by  its  frequency 


Strengthening  Modifies  in  Middle  High  German,       57 

in  the  literary  monuments.   The  same  is  indicated  by  its  presence 
in  the  sermons  of  Eckard.^ 


East  Frankish. 

Total.       Gar.       Per 
cent 

Wigalois 377  2 

Winsbeke  und  Winsbekin 17  2        12 

DerKenner...... , 137        34        25 

South  Frankish. 

Reinmar  von  Zweter , 130  8  6 

In  the  South  and  East  Frankish  monuments  gar  shows  itself 
also  but  rarely  before  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
Two  questionable  examples  are  found  in  Wigalois,  Winsbeke 
shows  one  unmistakable  example,  gar  alt  60-5,  Winsbekin  gar 
wisiu  9-9.  The  lyrical  poems  of  Reinmar  von  Zweter  show  8 
examples,  or  6  per  cent  of  all  strengthening  particles,  which  is 
a  high  percentage  for  his  time  (1227-60).  Der  Renner  shows 
a  percentage  of  25  for  gar,  vil  being  the  most  common  strength- 
ener  with  a  percentage  of  70. 


WOL. 

Wol  as  an  indefinite  strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs 
is  somewhat  frequent  during  this  period,  especially  during  the 
early  part.  This  use  of  the  word  is  so  closely  connected  with 
wol  the  adverb  of  manner,  and  the  strengthener  of  a  whole 
assertion,  that  the  two  must  be  considered  together.  The  word 
is  derived  from  the  root  of  wollen,  and  therefore  meant,  in  the 
first  place,  according  to  wish,  in  a  desirable  manner ,  then, 
thoroughly.  As  a  modifier  of  verbs,  and  denoting  the  manner 
in  which  the  action  is  performed,  wol  is  frequent  with  such 

^  The  statement  of  Paul  in  his  dictionary  under  gar :  "  Volkstiimlich  ist 
dieser  Gebrauch  nur  im  Siiden,"  if  true,  can  apply  only  to  modern  times. 
Compare  also  Kip,  p.  160,  commenting  on  this  statement  of  Paul:  Diese 
dialektische  Eigentiimlichkeit  scheint  bis  in  alte  Zeit  zuriickzureichen. 


58        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

words  as  hewarny  hehagen,  gezemen,  phlegen^  tuon,  etc.  Here  the 
original  meaning  of  the  word  is  the  most  clearly  preserved. 

More  frequent  however  than  with  such  verbs,  and  more 
important  for  the  later  development  of  the  word,  are  the 
instances  of  wol  with  verbs  of  knowing,  believing,  perceiving 
through  the  senses,  seeming,  etc.  This  use  of  the  word  is  so 
common  and  well  understood  that  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  cite 
examples.     The  following  may  however  be  given  : 

ich  weiz  wol  daz  er  deh  machet  ndch  uns  zehant  4f  die  sld. 
Krone  3239. 

ich  meine  wol  daz  ir  sit  ein  vil  erhlicher  zage.     Krone  3758. 

als  ich  n4  wol  waene.     Fl.  u.  Bl.  1447. 

ich  sihe  wol  daz  der  tdt  die  Hebe  muoz  verenden,  Fl.  u.  Bl. 
1456. 

do  verstuont  sich  wol  diu  reine  daz  ich  gerne  M  ir  was, 
Iwein  332. 

dd  ich  im  alsd  ndhen  quam  daz  er  min  wol  war  genam, 
Iwein  471. 

im  vastet  niht,  daz  hoere  ich  wol.     Iwein  817. 

€2!  schinet  wol .  .  .  daz  disiu  rede  ndch  ezzen  ist.     Iwein  815. 

In  such  examples  as  these,  wol  shows  little  of  its  original 
connection  with  the  verb  wollen,  but  has  become  merely  a  general 
strengthener  of  the  verbal  idea  expressed  by  the  word  it  modi- 
fies. In  this  use  it  is  so  firmly  fixed,  however,  that  no  other 
strengthening  adverb  can  take  its  place,  even  at  the  present 
time.  If  any  other  adverb  is  used,  it  adds  another  meaning 
entirely.  Compare  for  instance :  diu  minne  weiz  die  liste  gar, 
Fl.  u.  Bl.  678,  where  gar  logically  does  not  modify  the  verb  at 
all,  but  die  liste. 

From  its  long  and  intimate  association  with  such  verbs  as 
wizzen,  denken,  gelouben,  waenen,  schinen,  etc.,  wol  becomes 
largely  subjective  in  its  meaning.  It  represents  more  than  any 
other  adverb  can  do  in  MHG  the  personal  opinion  of  the 
speaker.  This  appears  very  plainly  in  the  next  important 
function  of  the  word,  its  use  as  a  general  strengthener  of  an 
assertion.  The  literature  of  the  period  is  full  of  examples,  a 
few  of  which  will  suffice : 


'^\  B  R  A  /Tl'  . 
OF THC     '        \ 

UNIVER8';        ") 
Strengthening  Modifiers  vit  -JdMdiei:^  J^Mfh  German,        69 

die  wile  der  admirdt  leht  eine,  s6  muge  wir  wol  vor  im  genesen} 
Alex.  5234.     Wol  here  is  equivalent  to  ich  geloube  wolj  surely, 

Mten  si  noch  grdzer  krafty  got  machet  uns  dock  wol  sigehaft, 
K.  der  Gr.  9054.     (TFbZ,  1  firmly  believe.) 

tuosm  dan  die  widerMre  dne  grdze  din  untre^  sd  bistii  wol  ein 
vrum  man.     Iw.  558.     (Wol,  I  will  acknowledge.) 

dd  huop  sich  vil  grdz  weinen,  und  schrty  owt  mir  armen,  daz  ez 
wol  mohte  erbarmen  ein flinshertez  herze,  Fl.  u.  Bl.  1484.  (Wol, 
I  am  quite  ready  to  believe.) 

ichn  habe  iu  selhes  niht  getdn,  ir  mbhtet  mich  wol  lebn  Idn, 
Iwein  173.     (Woly  ich  dcehte  woly  I  should  think.) 

er  was  einem  Mdre  gelichy  michel  und  als  eislich  daz  ez  nie- 
men  wol  geloubet.  Iwein  429.  (That  very  likely  no  one  will 
believe  it.)  ^ 

In  most  of  the  instances  where  wol  is  thus  used  as  a  sentence 
modifier  in  MHG  it  serves  to  add  strength  to  the  assertion, 
the  above  examples,  where  it  savors  of  Mod.  Germ,  wohl,  being 
exceptional.     From  this  use  the  Mod.  Germ,  indefinite  sense 

^  Wol  here  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  verb  miigen.  It  modifies  the 
whole  statement  not  the  auxiliary  verb.  This  may  perhaps  be  better  seen 
from  the  following :  ein  man  sluege  wol  ein  her  oh  ez  dne  wer  waere.  Krone  830. 
The  sense  is  that  one  man  would  no  doubt  succeed  against  a  whole  army,  not 
that  he  could  slay  the  army  with  little  eflfort.  Kip's  classification  of  wol  with 
the  auxiliaries  especially  miigen  and  kunnen  is  of  no  significance  whatever 
(p.  221).  It  is  the  exception  if  wol  modifies  the  auxiliary.  Nor  is  his  theory 
as  to  the  weakening  of  wol  logical.  He  says :  "  Wole  steHt  in  formelhafter 
Verbindung  mit  gewissen  Verben,  deren  Bedeutung  im  Laufe  der  Zeit  derartig 
verschoben  wird,  dass  eine  unbestimmte  Moglichkeit  an  Stelle  des  alteren 
bestimmten  Begrifies  tritt.  Diese  Verben  schleppten  gewissermassen  das 
Adverbium  mit,  so  dass  die  Unbestimmtheit,  die  urspriinglich  nur  an  das 
Verbum  haftete,  nach  und  nach  auch  auf  das  Adverbium  iibertragen  wurde. 
Vor  allem  gehoren  hierher  die  beiden  Verben  miigen  und  kunnen"  In  so  far 
as  these  and  other  auxiliaries,  in  connection  with  their  infinitives,  frequently 
refer  to  a  future  action,  some  uncertainty  may  be  present.  But  this  is  no 
more  true  of  miigen  and  kunnen  than  of  werden  and  &oll&n,  or  the  present  tense 
of  any  verb  used  as  a  future.  It  is  not  necessary  that  wol  should  be  carried 
along  in  its  development  toward  the  stage  of  indefiniteness,  by  any  verb  or 
class  of  verbs.  With  this  particle,  as  well  as  with  others  which  originally 
signified  a  state  of  completeness  or  definiteness,  this  weakening  was  rather  the 
result  of  sheer  wear,  of  too  frequent  use. 

2  See  Bech,  note  to  Iwein  1762,  "  wol  =  leicht,  moglicherweise."  173  and 
429  are  however  unexplained. 


60        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

of  the  word,  as  in  "  Sie  sind  wohl  ein  Franke  ?  "  is  descended. 
That  this  process  of  development  or  weakening  had  already 
begun  in  MHG  may  be  seen  from  the  above  examples.^  Signs 
even  of  the  use  of  wol  in  concessive  clauses  (Mod.  Germ,  obwohl) 
are  at  hand  during  this  period,  Doch  swaz  ez  dar  umbe  si,  er 
mac  U718  wol  gescheiden,  doch  mac  er  niht  erleiden  mir  iuwer 
werden  minne,     Fl.  u.  Bl.  1280-4.     {Wol,  to  be  sure,  zwar,) 

Being  thus  a  general  strengthener  of  an  assertion,  it  is  quite 
easy  to  localize  the  word  and  make  it  applicable  to  an  adjective, 
an  adverb,  or  even  a  numeral.  It  is  then  difficult,  often,  to- 
determine  whether  the  particle  modifies  the  verb,  the  whole 
sentence,  or  the  adjective  or  adverb.  Compare  the  following  t 
daz  was  och  wol  gevuege  daz  man  im  niht  zersluege,  etc..  Mart. 
39-63.  Where  the  adjective  is  in  attributive  position  it  is 
reasonably  certain  that  wol  is  intended  merely  as  a  strengthener 
of  the  adjective,  but  with  adjectives  in  the  predicate,  and  with 
adverbs,  the  difficulty  is  nearly  always  present. 

In  wol  as  a  modifier  of  a  numeral  the  same  development  took 
place  as  in  wol  the  sentence  modifier.  Originally  it  was  felt  as 
a  real  strengthener.  Kuster  michf  Wol  tilsentstunt,W2\t\i.  Z^— 
26,  at  least  a  thousand  times.  That  the  writer  or  speaker 
thought  he  was  keeping  well  within  the  bounds  of  truth,  is 
shown  by  the  frequent  addition  of  the  words  oder  m^re,  oder 
haz;  wol  vierzio  t4sent  oder  dannoch  baz,  Nib.  181-3.  Wol 
hundert  oder  m^re,  279-3.^  Again  it  is  shown  by  an  effi)rt  ta 
state  the  number  exactly,  instead  of  expressing  it  roundly  :  wol 
vierdehalbe  hlafter  lane.  Bit.  u.  Diet.  7500.^  This  force  of  the 
word  was  however  soon  lost,  and  most  of  the  examples  of  wol 
with  numerals  during  this  period  are  to  be  taken  as  equivalent 
to  "  etwa,"  "  ungefahr.'' 

As  a  strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  wol  is  often  found  with  words  expressing  distance,  motion,. 

^  This  weakening  in  the  force  of  wol  is  parallel  to  that  which  has  taken 
place  in  zewdre,  ungevdr,  vaste,  gewis.  The  excessive  use  of  such  asseverations, 
and  the  general  experience  that  they  are  necessary  only  where  room  for 
reasonable  doubt  exists,  has  caused  them  one  after  another  to  be  discounted. 

^  Compare  Wieland,  Geron  der  Adelige,  i,  line  295 :  Wohl  siebzig  Jahre  mogen's- 
sein  und  mehr. 

^  Compare  wel  nyne  and  twenty  in  a  companye,  Chaucer  Cant.  Tales,  Pro.  24.. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        61 

or  some  space  relation,  such  as  verrey  lanCj  witen,  ndchy  4/",  hin, 
etc.  The  starting  point  seems  to  be  the  idea  of  motion  from 
some  place,  and  wol  expresses  the  same  turn  of  thought  as 
English  well  in  such  expressions  as  well  away,  well  heyond,  well 
alongr  Comparison  with  wol  the  sentence  strengthener  may  not 
be  lacking  in  these  examples,  though  the  relation  to  guot  is 
perhaps  closer,  wol  being  here  equivalent  to  a  good  distance. 
Compare  einen  guoten  wee  hin,  Iwein  5553.  Quite  of  the  same 
nature  are  such  expressions  as  ich  wil  beliben  baz,  Walth.  88-34, 
ndher  baz,  Kol.  4274,  and  vurbaz,  English  better  than  a  mile. 
In  all  such  figurative  expressions  the  measuring  standard  of  one 
class  of  ideas,  with  its  different  gradations,  is  applied  to  another 
class.  Wol  ndohy  Eng.  well  nigh,  represents  the  same  turn  of 
thought.  Probably  originally  applied  to  space  relations,  wol 
ndch  meant  well  along  towards,  afterwards  well  nigh.  Compare 
ndch  as  a  preposition.  Wolfram  uses  wol  ndch,  Parz.  132-27, 
wol  ndch  gein  der  mile  ziL 

Wol  is  more  frequently  found  associated  with  adjectives 
formed  from  past  participles,  and  retaining  something  of  their 
verbal  meaning,  or  with  adjectives  similar  in  form  to  parti- 
ciples, and  easily  dissociated  with  the  corresponding  verbs. 
Sometimes  the  particle  is  inseparable  from  the  participle,  and 
the  two  form  a  single  compound  expression.  For  example,  wol 
getdn,  wol  geslaht  (old  French  de  bon  aire),  wol  gestalt.  In  such 
instances,  wol  retains  its  original  force,  either  as  meaning  in  a 
desirable  manner,  or  well,  thoroughly,  as  when  modifying  verbs 
of  knowing  or  believing.  In  many  cases  no  other  strengthener 
may  be  used,  which  is  evidence  that  wol  is  not  here  weakened 
to  a  general  strengthening  particle.  Further  examples  of  such 
are:  wol  gesunl,  wol  kunt,  wol  bekant,  wol  gemuot,  wol  bereit, 
wol  icdr. 

Like  rehte,  wol  is  sometimes  found  with  words  of  a  kindred 
meaning.  This  may  be  compared  to  the  Mod.  Germ,  colloquial 
heaping  together  of  adjectives  having  a  similar  meaning,  for 
the  purpose  of  expressing  a  high  degree  of  the  quality.  Com- 
pare for  instance,  fein  artig,  fein  ehrbar,  hubsch  achon,  etc., 
English  good  and  hot,  nice  and  clean.  Examples  of  such  a 
usage  in  MHG,  in  which  the  original  meaning  of  wol  is  to 


62       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

a  greater  or  less  degree  felt,  are :  wol  billich,  wol  veile,  wol  wert, 
wol  hehagen,  etc. 

Unlike  rehte,  wol  is  not  found  with  words  of  an  opposite 
meaning.  This  indicates  that  the  association  in  meaning  of 
the  particle  and  the  original  adverb  was  always  more  or  less 
present. 

Finally  wol  is  applied  to  other  adjectives  and  adverbs  and 
has  the  force  of  an  indefinite  strengthening  particle.  With 
these  it  can  take  the  place  of  some  other  strengthener.  That  its 
field  of  usefulness  should  here  be  limited,  is  easy  to  understand 
when  we  consider  that  the  process  of  weakening,  by  which  this 
particle  approached  in  meaning  Mod.  Germ,  indefinite  wohl, 
was  well  under  way  during  the  thirteenth  century.  Its  career 
as  a  modifier  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  was  thus  cut  short. 

Being  so  largely  subjective  in  nature,  and  used  so  generally 
with  gradually  weakened  force  as  a  sentence  strengthener,  wol 
was  never  a  strong  or  very  emphatic  particle. 

To  be  compared  with  wol  are  such  phrases  as  ze  wunsche^  ze 
freude,  ze  prise,  all  of  which  are  comparatively  frequent. 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  words  with  which  wol  as  a  strength- 
ening particle  is  associated  in  Upper  German.^     Wol  with  these 

^  Haupt,  in  his  edition  of  the  Erec,  reconstructs  vol  in  several  instances 
where  the  manuscript  reads  wol.  Thus,  vol  karger  man  2381,  vol  tugentliche  9909, 
mit  vol  blanker  varwe  7293,  vol  also  7244,  vol  minneclichen  6794.  In  this  he  follows 
Lachmann  (See  Haupt  to  2381,  L.  to  Iwein  3179).  Mit  vol  blanker  varive  is 
evidently  from  analogy  to  vol  liehter  varwe  7729  (note  to  2381).  Vol  is  however 
here  not  a  modifier  of  liehter,  but  liehter  varwe  is  a  genitive  depending  on  vol,  and 
the  line  should  be  rendered,  "  full  of  brilliant  color,"  So  Henrici,  following 
Lachmann,  has  unz  vol  ndch  mittem  tage,  Iwein  7239  ;  DEJhcfr  wol.  All  such 
reconstruction  is  unjustified.  Vol  seems  never  to  have  been  weakened  to  a 
general  strengthening  particle.  Certainly  it  is  not  so  used  by  Hartmann. 
Compare  Erec  4816-20 :  ich  bite  inch,  tugenthafter  man,  sit  ir  mir  sit  gewesen  guot, 
daz  ir  mir  vol{le)  wol  tuot,  daz  ich  iuch  mueze  erkennen:  geruochet  inch  mir  nennen. 
Vol  in  this  passage  is  not  a  strengthener  of  wol,  as  English /wZ/  well^  but  modifies 
the  verb  wol  tuon,  and  has  about  the  same  force  as  vol  in  vol  sprechen.  Compare 
und  als  er  vol  sich  geneic,  Iwein  3944,  suit  ir  volvarn,  Iw.  61e50.  The  passage 
means,  "  since  you  have  already  done  me  one  favor  (to  return  his  horse  as 
requested)  I  beg  that  you  will  go  further  and  do  me  the  highest,  the  complete 
honor  of  telling  me  your  name."  So  line  7375,  Em  phdrt  schoene  und  voile  guot. 
Voile  guot  means  perfect  in  every  respect,  not  merely  very  good,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  context :  weder  ze  nider  noch  ze  ho,  7341,  and  alsd  was  ez  volkomen  daz 
er  dar  abe  niht  hete  genomen  alse  grdz  als  umbein  hdr,  7386-8.    So  vollen  guoiy 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        63 

is  not  always  free  from  traces  of  its  original  meaning,  though 
examples  where  this  is  manifestly  retained  are  excluded.  Wol 
bereitj  gemuotj  gewar,  kunt,  are  very  frequent.  Wol  balde  occurs 
10  times,  geliche,  9  ;  schin,  billichy  3  ;  gevnoge,  gemeity  her,  manec, 
4f,  verre,  veile,  war,  wert,  2.  With  other  words  only  a  single 
instance  each  has  been  found. 

The  greater  part  of  the  examples  of  wol  are  from  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century  or  earlier.  In  Alemannic,  Gottfried's 
Tristan  shows  28,  or  70  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  for  this 
dialect.  In  Swabian  they  are,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  from 
Erec  and  Iwein.^  In  Bavarian- Austrian  the  three  Nibelungen 
versions  show  22  examples,  Diu  Krone  7,  Parzival  3.  Elsewhere 
are  only  scattering  examples,  many  of  which  are  doubtful.  By 
the  end  of  the  century  this  particle  had  practically  become 
obsolete,  its  use  being  confined  to  such  expressions  as  wol  veile, 
wol  4ff  and  to  those  connections  where  its  original  force  was 
largely  retained,  as  wol  bereit,  wol  hunt,  etc.  It  is  exceedingly 
rare  in  the  prose  monuments  for  the  whole  period.  Berthold 
von  Regensberg  shows  wol  billich,  wol  manic. 

In  Middle  German  the  examples  of  wol,  where  it  may  be 
•considered  as  an  indefinite  strengthening  particle,  are  rare  and 
scattering  before  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Die 
Erlosung  (1295)  shows  7,  Elisabeth  14.  In  the  latter  monument 
the  examples  are  so  numerous  and  so  evidently  genuine  as  to 
suggest  the  fact  that  wol  was  at  this  time  current  in  the  popular 
dialect. 

REHTE. 

Behte,  OHG  rehto,  as  a  strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs 
is  found  very  early  in  the  Germanic  dialects  :  rehto  ubarliU,  Ot. 

Arm.  Hein.  1177,  uns  kan  daz  niht  gewerren  iuwer  maget  end  vollen  guot,  which 
should  be  rendered,  "that  your  maiden  be  not  fully  perfect,"  which  was 
demanded  to  effect  a  cure.     (See  Bech's  note  to  this  passage). 

Elsewhere  examples  of  vol  have  been  noticed :  Hein.  v.  Meissen,  Leiche  3-8, 
vollen  miachajt ;  Martina,  38-55,  vol  geswinde ;  St.  Brandan  1826,  vollen  gerne  ; 
Konig  Tirol,  1-3,  voile  lobesam  ;  Hein.  v.  Freiberg,  Tristan  vollen  wit  und  grdz^ 
1158,  vollen  hdch  6044.  Other  examples  have  been  noted  where  the  original 
meaning  of  the  word  is  manifestly  retained. 

^  Zw.  Biichl.  wol  bescheiden  69,  wol  vrum  479. 


64       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

ly,  24-26  ;  rehto  virinlih,  Mus.  10,  and  rehto  palwicy  26.  The 
word  is  from  the  same  root  as  Latin  regere,  to  guide  or  straighten^ 
Mod.  Germ,  riohten,  and  is  a  participial  formation.  The  original 
meaning  was,  in  a  straight  way,  then,  correctly,  in  a  proper 
manner)     Ot.  Ill,  23-39.  mir  .  .  folge,  ther  rehto  gangan  wolle. 

The  different  stages  in  the  development  of  the  word  as  it  came 
to  be  applied  to  adjectives  and  adverbs  are  not  easy  to  follow. 
It  is  probable  however  that  the  process  was  quite  different  from 
that  in  the  case  of  wol.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the 
idea  of  what  is  right  or  just,  entered  into  the  conception  of  the 
word,  and  that  from  this  it  passed  to  the  idea  of  generously,  in 
a  rich  measure,  to  a  high  degree.  Had  such  been  the  develop- 
ment, we  should  expect  to  find  it  at  first  associated  with  words 
of  a  kindred  meaning.  This  does  not  however  seem  to  be  the 
case.  Its  connection  with  virinlih,  terrible,  and  palwic,  destruc- 
tive, in  the  Muspilli,  shows  that  no  such  idea  is  there  present. 
It  is  more  probable  to  assume  that  an  early  differentiation  of 
meaning  took  place,  and  that  there  resulted  on  the  one  hand, 
Mod.  Germ,  recht,  gerecht,  on  the  other  hand,  the  strengthening 
particle,  which  passed  through  some  such  stages  as  exactly,  fully, 
to  a  high  degree.  Evidence  of  such  a  development  is  to  be  found 
in  the  use  of  the  word  with  als,  alsd,  alsam.  Compare  reht' 
alse  ich  iu  t  seite,  Tr.  3468 ;  and  further,  such  phrases  as,  rehte 
unz  in  diu  tor,  Tr.  387 ;  aglain,  such  examples  as  was  ir  varwe 
wiz  rdt  var,  noch  rehte  wiz,  noch  rehte  rdt,  Liet  v.  Tr.  602.  In 
each  of  these,  rehte  has  the  force  of  exactly,  gerade,  as  English 
right  up  to  the  gate. 

The  same  idea  is  expressed  in  the  use  of  rehte  with  numerals, 
rehte  vierdehalp,  Vom  Antichrist,  283-13;  rehte  vier  und  zwanzic, 
Str.  Alex.  5095.  Before  numerals  rehte  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  weakened  to  ungefdhr,  about,  as  in  the  case  of  wol.  This 
function  was  assumed  by  the  latter  particle  exclusively. 

Rehte,  then,  joined  to  adjectives  and  adverbs,  marked  origin- 
ally the  completeness  of  the  quality,  and  had  little  or  no 
connection  with  the  idea  of  what  is  right  or  proper.  Rehte  guot 
meant  good  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  Rehte  leit  implied 
that  the  thing  or  condition  of  affairs  to  which  this  expression 
referred  was  such  that  it  might  correctly  be  described  in  these 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       65 

terms.  From  this  meaning  rehte  was  easily  weakened  to  a 
general  strengthening  particle.^ 

As  thus  used  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  rehte  was  very 
emphatic,  approaching  in  force  to  harte.  That  it  was  a  more 
polite  and  elegant  word  is  indicated  by  the  preference  shown  for 
it  by  the  lyrical  writers. 

In  the  majority  of  instances,  rehte  as  a  strengthening  particle 
is  preceded  by  als6,  s6,  wie,  swie,  or  some  such  adverb,  as  was 
the  case  with  gar  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  period.  The 
use  of  such  expressions  in  connection  with  rehte^  or  rather  the 
use  of  rehte  or  gar  in  such  instances  where  a  striking  comparison 
is  to  be  made,  or  a  clause  of  result  introduced,  indicates  merely 
that  these  were  felt  as  very  strong  particles. 


Alemannic. 

1.  Poetical  Monuments.  Total.    Rehte.     Per  lOOO  Per 
a)  Lower  Alemannic.  lines,    cent. 

Keinmar  von  Hagenau 88  11  5        13 

Tristan 412  34  2          8 

Flore  und  Blanscheflur 82  17  2        21 

DieGuteFrau 86  4  15 

DasSteinbuch 27  4  4        14 

Der  Trojanische  Krieg 351  41  4        12 

KeiserOtte 22  1  15 

Alexius 110  1  11 

Martina 268  15  2          6 

Reinfried  von  Braunschweig 97  4  4 

Peter  von  StaufPenberg 46  3  3          6 

6)  Upper  Alemannic. 

Der  Gute  Gerhard 218  6  13 

Barlaam  und  Josaphat 304  4  1 

Johannes  Hadlaub 106  15  7        14 

2.  Prose. 

Altd.  Predig.  Wackernagel  I-LII. 91  4  4 

Deut.  Predig.  d.  13  Jarhr.  Gries 63  7  13 

The  tables  for  Alemannic  show  a  very  irregular  use  of  rehte 
throughout  the  thirteenth  century.  Flore  und  Blanscheflur 
shows  the  highest  percentage,  next  come  the  popular  Steinbuch, 
and  the  two  lyrical  monuments.     These  latter,  Reinmar  von 

^  Compare  in  this  regard  English  right  and  downright,  the  latter  retaining  to 
a  greater  extent  its  original  force.  Downright  nonsense,  geradezu  Vnnnn,  but 
also  downright  glad,  downright  sorry. 


66       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Hagenau  and  Johannes  Hadlaub,  show  the  highest  actual 
frequency,  5  and  7  per  thousand  lines  respectively.  There  is  a 
marked  difference  between  the  three  works  of  Konrad  von 
Wiirzburg,  Der  Trojanische  Krieg  showing  41  examples,  or  12 
per  cent,  Keiser  Otte  and  Alexius  a  single  instance  each. 

The  number  of  words  with  which  rehte  is  joined  in  Alemannic 
is  very  large.  The  following  are  the  more  frequent  combina- 
tions: rehte  wol  15,  schdne  9,  suoze  8,  minnedich  6,  wunnedich 
6,  frd  5,  guot  5,  keiserlich  4,  vin  3,  w^  3,  hdeh  3,  ndhen  3, 
ungerne  3,  wert  2,  bitterliehen  2,  dicke  2,  leit  2,  manee  2,  swaere  2, 
with  about  60  other  words  a  single  instance  each. 

From  this  list  it  appears  that  whatever  the  process  of  devel- 
opment through  which  rehte  has  passed,  the  actual  usage  of  the 
particle  during  this  period  has  been  influenced  by  the  original 
color  of  the  word  as  shown  in  the  adverb  of  manner.  In  the 
majority  of  instances  rehte  is  united  with  words  expressing  a 
good  or  desirable  quality.  Words  of  the  opposite  meaning  are 
not  lacking,  though  they  are  not  so  numerous. 

Bavarian- AusTKiAN. 

1.  Bavarian.  Total. 

a)  Poetical  Monuments. 
Parzival 293 

Neidhart  von  Reuenthal 93 

S.  Francisken  Leben 109 

Der  Heilige  Georg 86 

Lohengrin 90 

b)  Prose. 
Berthold  von  Regensburg 366 

2.  Austrian. 

a)  Poetical  Monuments. 

Genesis 159 

Die  Biicher  Mosis 177 

Kindheit  Jesu 83 

Nibelungen 1250 

Biterolf  und  Dietleib 701 

Wolfdietrich  A 250 

Kudrun 552 

Walther 145 

Karl  der  Grosse. 344 

Freidankes  Bescheidenheit 94 

Ulrich  von  Lichtenstein 389 

Garel  von  dem  bluhenden  Tal  (?) 338 

Friedrich  von  Sonnenburg 26 

b)  Prose. 
Altd.  Predigten  aus  S.  Paul 181 


Eehte. 

Per  Ct. 

9 

3 

4 

4 

4 

4 

2 

2 

6 

7 

3 

2 

1 

1 

1 

57 

8 

4 

., 

3 

1 

13 

2 

10 

8 

7 

2 

1 

1 

21 

5 

9 

3 

2 

8 

Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       67 

The  frequency  of  rehte  in  Bavarian- Austrian  monuments  is 
also  irregular.  Here  the  lyrical  works  show  the  highest  per- 
centages :  Walther  and  Fried,  v.  Sonn.  show  each  8  per  cent, 
Ulrich  V.  Licht.  5,  Neidhart  4.  The  epic  monument  showing 
the  highest  percentage  is  Lohengrin,  which  has  many  popular 
features  of  style.     The  Nibelungen  come  next  with  5  per  cent. 

Rehte  has  been  found  in  Bavarian- Austrian  with  about  170 
different  words.  Of  these  the  greater  number  express  a  good  or 
desirable  quality.  The  most  frequent  are :  rehte  wol  13,  minnec- 
lich  10,  htrlich  7,  schdne  7,  guot  6,  lieplichen  5,  manlich  5,  Hep 
5,  vroeliche  4,  vrd  4,  sileze  4,  reine  3,  vriuntlich  2,  gemuote  2, 
wunneclichen  2. 

Those  of  a  more  or  less  opposite  meaning  :  rehte  leit  9,  wt  3, 
grimmedichen  3,  jaemerlichen  2,  swaere  2,  vientlichen  2 ;  further  a 
single  instance  of  each  of  the  following  :  6oese,  grimme,  kumher- 
lichen,  Mageliche,  toheliehe^  trilreCy  ubeley  unsanfte,  unfriuntlicheny 
unvroelicheriy  vreislich,  vientlichen  unreine. 

With  words  of  an  indifferent  color :  rehte  gar  6,  kunt  3,  Mme 
2,  ndhen  %  wdr  2,  grdz  2,  etc. 

SWABIAN. 

Total.  Rehte,  Per  Ct. 

Wernhers  Maria 92  2  2 

Heinrich  von  Kugge 25  3  12 

Erec 373  4  1 

Erstes  Buchlein , 59  1  2 

Gregorius 150  3  2 

Armer  Heinrich c. 81  1  1 

Iwein 249  5  2 

Zweites  Biichlein 15  1  7 

Gottfried  von  Neifen 88  5  6 

Ulrich  von  Winterstetten 138  9  6 

Eosengarten 141  3  2 

In  Swabian  rehte  is  more  popular  with  writers  of  lyric  than  of 
epic  poetry.  Heinrich  von  Rugge  shows  the  highest  percentage, 
Hartmann^s  Zweites  Biichlein,  Gottfried  von  Neifen,  and  Ulrich 
von  Winterstetten  come  next  in  order.  Otherwise  there  seems 
to  be  nothing  peculiar  concerning  the  use  of  the  word  in  this 
dialect.  Rehte  minnedichen  occurs  3  times,  rehte  guoty  rehte 
giletlichen,  rehte  wunnedichen,  rehte  wol,  twice  each. 


68       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 


Middle  West  German. 

a)  Moselfrankish.  Total.  Rehte.  Per  Ct. 

Vorau  Alexander 54  1  2 

Orendel 202  13  6 

Strassburg  Alexander 268  4  2 

Sanct  Brandan 102  1  1 

6)  Rhinefrankish. 

Friedrich  von  Hansen 17  2  12 

e)  Hessian. 

Athis  und  Prophilias 36  1  3 

LietvonTroye 119  2  2 

Erlosung 124  5  4 

Elisabeth 99  3  3 

Thuringian. 

Heinrich  von  Morungen 43  3  7 

Heinrich  und  Kunigunde 288  2  1 

Vater  Unser , ,  122  1  1 

Der  Siinden  Widerstreit 188  13  7 

Tristan 121  3  3 

In  WMG  and  Thuringian  rehte  is  rare  as  a  strengthening 
particle  throughout  the  whole  period.  Only  two  monuments 
show  more  than  5  examples.  Orendel  offers  13.  This  monu- 
ment is  exceptional  also  in  the  use  of  harte  and  gar,  as  has  been 
previously  mentioned.  Der  Siinden  Widerstreit,  which  is 
popular  in  tone,  shows  13  examples,  or  7  per  cent.  The 
lyrical  monuments  show  the  highest  percentages :  Friedrich  von 
Hansen  12,  Heinrich  von  Morungen  7. 

Rehte  wol  is  here  the  most  frequent  combination,  occurring  8 
times,  rehte  gerne  is  found  5  times,  rehte  lieplichen  4,  rehte 
schoene  3. 

East  Frankish. 

Total.  Rehte.  Per  Ct. 

Himmelfahrt  Mariae 34        1         3 

Wigalois 377        8         2 

Der  Renner 137        3         2 

South  Frankish. 

Moriz  von  Craon 56        0 

Reinmar  von  Zweter 130        6         4 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        69 

The  South  and  East  Frankish  monuments  show  also  very  few 
examples  of  rehte.  The  lyrics  of  Reinmar  von  Zweter  show  the 
highest  percentage.  With  the  exception  of  the  latter  monument 
the  instances  are  less  than  one  per  thousand  lines. 

Rehte  is  thus  seen  to  belong  more  particularly  to  Upper 
German,  and  to  be  most  frequent  in  Alemannic  and  Bavarian- 
Austrian.  There  are  no  signs  of  its  becoming  entirely  obsolete 
at  any  time,  and  it  doubtless  continued  in  use  down  to  the 
present. 

GENUOC. 

GenuoG,  OHG  ginuog,  Gothic  ganohs,  is  connected  with  the 
Gothic  preterit-present  verb  ganah,  it  satisfies.  This  word  is 
used  in  MHG  as  a  strengthener  of  adjectives  and  adverbs  as 
well  as  verbs.  No  similar  use  of  the  word  occurs  in  OHG  or 
Gothic.  What  is  perhaps  the  original  meaning  may  be  seen  in 
Gothic  ganohsy  which  signifies  primarily  much^  then  sufficient. 
Compare :  jah  mid  iddjedun  imma  siponjos  is  ganohai,  Luke 
7-11,  and  many  of  his  disciples  went  with  him.  And  further, 
Nauh  ganoh  shal  qi\an  izwis^  John  16-12,  I  have  much  yet  to 
say  to  you,  ganoh  here  being  a  translation  of  the  Greek  ttoXv. 

Throughout  the  OHG  period  the  two  notions  of  much  and 
sufficient  are  associated  with  the  word,  both  as  adjective  and  as 
adverb.  Compare  Merigarto  4,  Uz  der  erda  sprungan  manigslahte 
prunneUj  manig  michil  s^,  in  hdhe  unt  in  ebene,  uuazzer  gnuogiuy 
where  uuazzer  gnuogiu  is  to  be  rendered  much  water. 

Otfrid  uses  the  word  ginuag  in  both  senses  :  III,  25-38,  Fon 
thesses  dages  fristi  s6  was  in  thaz  sid  festi  in  muate  ginuagiy  festi 
ginuagi  being  rendered  sufficiently  firm.  In  the  following,  ginuag 
has  the  force  of  richly,  in  full  measure :  Allez  guat  zi  wdre  s6 
fldzfon  imo  thdre  alien  liutin  ioh  ginuag y  III,  14-82. 

This  double  meaning  holds  for  the  word  during  the  MHG 
period.  Compare :  JEr  hdt  w^nc,  und  ich  genuoc,  Parz.  7-6. 
As  a  modifier  of  a  verb  :  Ouch  weiz  icKs  selbe  genuoc,  Tristan 
13963.  It  is  hence  very  easy  to  join  this  adverb  to  an  adjective 
or  another  adverb  as  a  mere  strengthening  particle.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  assume  that  the  word  was  first  used  in  this  connection 
ironically,  as  the  dictionary  of  Benecke-Miiller-Zarnke  states.^ 

^  See  also  Kip,  p.  165. 
6 


70        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

The  early  history  of  the  word  is  evidence  to  the  contrary,  as  is 
also  the  fact,  which  will  appear  below,  that  genuoc  is  used  much 
more  frequently  with  words  expressing  a  good  or  desirable 
quality  than  with  those  of  opposite  meaning.  The  earliest 
instances  of  this  use  of  the  word,  genuoc  Mre  Gen.  57-9,  genuoch 
redespaehe  Gen.  130-2,  rethehaft  genuoge  Eol.  1371,  8788,  are 
with  adjectives  of  such  a  nature.  With  these  it  is  very  unlikely 
that  irony  can  be  intended. 

Genuoc  as  a  strengthening  particle  is  nearly  always  in  post- 
position, and  almost  invariably  in  rime.  Besides  the  examples 
mentioned  above,  the  following  have  been  noted  where  the 
particle  stands  before  the  word  it  modifies  and  outside  of  rime 
position.  Wolfd.  C.  Ill,  45-4,  gnuoc  lange  ;  Moriz  von  Craon 
716 J  genuoc  riche;  Gebet  einer  Fran.  Diemer  381-19,  genuch 
dikke;  Athis  und  Prophilias  0*27  so  riten  sie  gnuoc  trdge; 
Pred.  aus  S.  Paul.  76-15,  di  tdten  sich  4/  und  wurden  gnuoch 
lebentich.  Hartmann's  Erec  offers  three  instances  out  of  eight, 
before  the  word  modified  : 

von  dem  h4s  gnuoc  verre,  9870. 
wan  SI  was  genuoc  fruo,  2442. 
beidiu  gnuoc  kuntlich,  2340. 

The  first  five  thousand  lines  of  Iwein  offer  five  examples  of 
genuoc,  all  of  which  are  in  postposition  :  1789,  2033,  2711, 3462, 
4868.  Five  instances  are  found  in  the  remainder  of  the  poem, 
and  these  all  stand  before  the  modified  word : 

er  ist  gnuoc  tumprceze,  5242. 

nil  ist  ez  gnuoc  billich,  5244. 

daz  lehn  was  gnuoc  kumberlich,  5574. 

begunden  si  gdhen  .  .  engegen  im  gnuoc  verre,  6474. 

ir  herze  ist  ein  gnuoc  engez  vaz,  7044. 

Armer  Heinrich  shows :  nu  ist  genuoc  unmugelich  daz  ir 
deheiniu  .  .  tide  den  tdt,  453  ;  nu  vernam  er  daz  si  waere  genuoc 
unwandelbaere,  1172.    The  Erstes  Biichlein  has  gnuoc  tiur  390. 

Genuoc  rimes  almost  invariably  with  either  truoc  or  sluoc. 
The  two  examples  from  the  Rolandslied  quoted  above  rime,  or 
rather  assonance,  with  kuone.     Parzival  157-3,  Guter  Gerhard 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,       71 

5943,  each  rime  with  Tduoo,  Outside  of  rime  but  in  postposition 
genuoG  is  found  :  Troj.  Krieg  211,  wan  mir  ist  sanfte  gnuoc  dd 
mite;  Ath.  und  Proph.  El 50,  al  w&r  er  sh^e  gnuoc  virladin. 

The  fact  that  this  particle  appears  so  rarely  outside  of  rime 
position,  and  that  the  rime  words  in  this  ending  are  so  few, 
suggests  that  it  is  preserved  in  the  epic  merely  for  the  sake  of 
rime.  Truoc  and  sluoe  form  an  important  part  of  the  word 
stock  of  epic  poetry,  and  but  for  such  a  word  as  genuoCy  which 
as  a  strengthening  particle  may  be  tacked  on  almost  anywhere 
in  a  sentence,  the  monotony  of  constantly  riming  the  two  words 
together  would  be  great.  Hartmann's  freer  use  of  the  word 
may  indicate  that  it  was  current  to  a  greater  degree  in  Swabia 
than  elsewhere. 

Associated  in  meaning,  as  it  is,  with  the  idea  of  sufficiency, 
we  should  expect  genuoc  to  be  united  preferably  with  words 
expressing  a  good  or  desirable  quality.  The  lists  which  follow 
will  show  that  such  is  the  case.  Of  this  nature  are  hescheiden- 
Itchy  hillich,  biderbey  edely  gerne,  guoty  Mre,  Mrlichj  holt,  kostlich, 
kuene,  milte,  Hep,  riche^  sanfte^  schdne,  scelec,  snel,  sUberlichey 
unschuldecy  unwandelbaere,  friuntlichy  vrdy  vroelich,  vrum,  vlizec, 
wise,  wislichj  wol. 

It  is  found  also  with  words  of  the  opposite  meaning  :  grimme, 
grimmeCy  griuwelich,  heinliohy  leity  ndt,  swaere,  trUbreCy  ubelcy  unscelec, 
ident. 

Aside  from  these,  genuoc  seems  capable  of  modifying  any 
olass  of  adjectives  or  ab verbs  whatever,  and  to  have  no  other 
special  color. 

The  following  lists  show  the  occurrences  of  this  particle  which 
have  been  noted. 

Alemannic. 

Pat 

Total.    Genuoc    ^^ 

a)  Lower  Alemannic. 

Flore  und  Blanscheflur 82  3  4 

DieGuteFrau 86  2  2 

Der  Troj  anische  Krieg 351  6  2 

Reiser  Otte 22  2  9 

b)  Upper  Alemannic. 

Der  Gute  Gerhard 218        4  2 


72       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 
Bavarian- Austrian. 

Per 

Total.     Qenuoc.    p,     , 

1.  Bavarian. 

o)  Poetical  monuments. 

Parzival 293      14  3 

S.  Francisken  Leben 109        2  2 

Lohengrin 90        3  S 

h)  Prose. 

Berthold  von  Kegensburg 366        0 

2.  Austrian. 

a)  Poetical  monuments. 

Genesis 159 

Kindheit  Jesu 83 

Nibelungen 1250 

Biterolf  und  Dietleib 701 

Wolfdietrich  A 250 

Ortnit  and  Wolf.  C , 46 

Kudrun 552 

Karl  der  Grosse 344 

Freidankes  Bescheidenheit ..., 94 

Diu  Krone 395 

Garel  von  dem  bliihenden  Tal 338 

h)  Prose 

Altd.  Predig.  aus  S.  Paul 181 

SWABIAN. 

Erec 373 

Erstes  Biichlein 59 

Gregorius 150 

Armer  Heinrich 81 

Iwein 249 

Der  Marner 54 

West  Middle  German. 

Rolandslied 400        2 

Sanct  Brandan 102        4  4 

Athis  und  Prophilias 36        3  ^ 

Elisabeth 99        1  1 

Thuringian. 

Heinrich  und  Kunigunde 288        5  2 

VaterUnser 122        1  1 

Tristan 121        4  S 


2 

1 

8 

la 

44 

a 

12 

% 

2 

1 

1 

... 

17 

3 

4 

1 

1 

1 

2 

10 

a 

8 

2 

1 

2 

2 

1 

2 

2 

.0 

4 

1 

2 

Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        73 
South  and  East  Frankish. 

Total.    Genuoc.    ^^\ 
Cent, 

Wigalois ,. 377        4  1 

Moriz  von  Craon 56        2  4 

The  above  lists  indicate  that  genuoc  as  a  strengthening  particle 
is  more  particularly  Upper  German  usage.  The  Bavarian- 
Austrian  monuments  show  the  greatest  frequency.  The  highest 
percentage  is  found  in  the  Kindheit  Jesu,  10  per  cent,  Kudrun 
and  Parzival  show  each  4,  the  JNibelungen  and  Garel  3,  Biterolf 
and  Dietleib  2.  The  other  monuments  show  an  inconsiderable 
number,  one  per  cent  or  less. 

The  absence  of  genuoc  in  lyrical  works  is  noteworthy.  This 
is  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  rime  words  for  genuoc, 
truoG  and  sluoc,  are  either  not  a  part  of  the  word  stock  of  lyrical 
poetry,  or,  as  in  the  case  perhaps  of  the  latter,  found  only  rarely. 
No  doubt  also  genuoc  was  felt  to  be  obsolescent  as  a  strengthen- 
ing particle,  and  such  words,  unless  they  happen  to  be  a  part  of 
the  traditional  lyrical  diction,  are  not  apt  to  find  a  place  in  lyric 
poetry. 

In  the  case  of  some  of  the  examples  quoted,  particularly  from 
the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  there  may  be  doubt  as 
to  whether  they  are  really  intended  as  strengthening  particles. 
Those  from  the  Predigten  aus  S.  Paul  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
word  was  current  in  this  portion  of  the  field  (Carinthia)  at  that 
late  date.  Even  here,  though,  they  may  be  merely  remnants 
such  as  might  be  preserved  in  religious  diction  long  after  they 
had  become  obsolete  elsewhere.  Berthold  von  Regensburg  shows 
no  examples,  nor  have  any  been  found  in  the  sermon  literature 
elsewhere. 

The  examples  from  the  Alemannic  monuments  are  rare.  None 
are  to  be  found  in  Tristan,  and  they  are  only  scattering  else- 
where. None  are  found  in  the  works  from  the  end  of  the 
century.  Instances  of  genuoc  with  a  word  expressing  an  unde- 
sirable or  evil  quality  are  relatively  few  in  Alemannic,  or  only  2 
out  of  18.  This  is  in  contrast  to  Austrian  usage,  particularly  in 
the  popular  epic,  where  this  particle  with  such  words  as  grimme, 
leitj  triXreCy  zornec,  etc.,  is  comparatively  frequent. 


74       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

In  Swabian  the  examples  of  genuoe  are  all  from  the  works  of 
Hartmann  with  the  exception  of  wislich  genuoe,  Der  Marner 
16-16.  This  is  the  only  example  of  genuoo  with  lyrical  writers 
that  has  been  noted.  Iwein  shows  the  highest  percentage, 
though  the  word  is  actually  nearly  as  frequent  in  Erec. 

In  South  and  East  Frankish,  only  Wigalois  and  Moriz  von 
Craon  show  examples  of  genuoe.  In  these  it  is  found  only  with 
guot,  riohe,  and  suberliohe. 

In  Middle  German  the  instances  of  genuoe  are  also  few  and 
scattering.  None  deserve  special  mention  except  perhaps  those 
in  Heinrich  von  Freiberg^s  Tristan,  which  are  remarkable  for 
their  late  date  (1303-1320).  ^  They  occur  here  however  in  rime^ 
which  may  account  for  their  presence. 


oEKiE. 

S^rey  OHG  s^ro,  an  adverbial  form  of  the  adjective  s^r,  m 
frequent  during  this  period  as  a  modifier  of  verbs.  As  such  it 
meant  originally,  sorely,  with  distress.  It  was  then  generalized 
as  a  strengthener  of  a  verbal  idea  and  could  be  applied  to  any 
kind  of  a  verb.  As  applied  to  adjectives  and  adverbs,  and 
weakened  to  an  indefinite  strengthening  particle,  it  is  found  in 
certain  parts  of  the  MHG  field. 

Before  s^re  appears  as  a  general  strengthener  of  adjectives  and 
adverbs,  it  is  found  with  certain  participles  which  have  a  meaning 
similar  to  that  of  the  particle.  8Sre  wunt  is  perhaps  the  most 
common  of  these;  stre  erschraht  occurs  in  Kudrun  59-1,  s^r 
ges^ret,  Diu  Krone  6344.  It  is  found  then  with  adjectives  and 
adverbs  of  a  kindred  meaning :  s^re  kit,  St.  Fr.  Leben  1950, 
Krone  16623 ;  stre  ande,  Krone  4393  ;  s^re  krane,  Krone  6698  ; 
vil  stre  sieeh.  Rein.  v.  Zweter  140-1 ;  s^re  ndt,  Hein.  u.  Kunig. 

^  Heinrich  von  Freiberg,  although  he  endeavors  to  continue  in  the  same 
spirit  as  the  original  Tristan  and  makes  frequent  use  of  epithets  and  phrases 
from  Gottfried's  version,  shows  no  signs  of  influence  from  this  source  in  the 
matter  of  strengthening  particles.  Gottfried's  strengtheners  are,  in  the  order 
of  their  frequency :  vil,  harte,  wol,  rehte,  sere  ;  Heinrich's,  gar,  vil,  harte,  genuoe^ 
rehte. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.        75 

99 ;  s^re  gehaz,  Garel  2648 ;  stre  lasterbaere,  Garel  976.  In 
these  examples,  instances  of  the  association  of  related  ideas  are 
offered,  and  s^re  retains  something  of  its  original  meaning.  Its 
use  however  extends  to  other  connections,  where  all  trace  of  its 
original  meaning  seems  to  have  disappeared.  In  Alemannic 
monuments  the  following  have  been  noted  :  ^  s^re  ande^  Trist. 
13543;  erbdrmeclichj  1764;  froudehafty  Trist.  586,  Troj.  Krieg 
6906  ;  froudebaere,  Alex.  938  ;  frd,  Trist.  11385;  grdz,  Fl.  u. 
Bl.  4342 ;  guot,  Trist.  172,  Fl.  u.  Bl.  3765 ;  irresam,  Trist. 
11830;  krieohaft,  Troj.  Kr.  1562;  leit,  Trist.  6820,  Troj.  Kr. 
7083;  missevar,  Trist.  12750;  ndhen,  Eein.  v.  Hag.  160-28, 
Trist.  7251 ;  rich  2747,  4583 ;  starke,  5877 ;  scharph,  9027 ; 
trUric,  2601 ;  schadehaft,  6990;  unfrd,  2337,  2552,  11531 ;  vur, 
6295;  w^,  12257,  12752;  willec,  5062. 

This  use  of  s^re  is  confined  almost  entirely  to  Lower  Aleman- 
nic, and  appears  here  only  in  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Gottfried  von  Strassburg's  Tristan  furnishes  the 
greater  part  of  the  examples,  23  out  of  a  total  of  31. 

In  the  other  dialects  the  examples  of  s^re  are  scattered  and 
are  found  chiefly  with  wunt,  and  adjectives  and  adverbs  of  a 
kindred  meaning,  as  noted  above.  Aside  from  these  the  follow- 
ing may  be  cited  :  Diu  Krone,  sire  lane,  8709  ;  Siinden  Wider- 
streit,  harte  sire  unfrd,  1683;  sire  unrehte,  1826;  sire  vaste, 

^  These  examples  from  Alemannic  writers,  and  the  fact  that  this  particle 
seems  to  disappear  from  the  literary  language  during  the  thirteenth  century, 
are  interesting  in  view  of  the  statement  of  Paul  in  his  dictionary,  that  sehr  is 
unknown  to  the  popular  speech  in  Upper  German  (dem  Schwab-Bair.  fremd, 
dafiir  arg,  recht,  fast,  gar.  Kluge.). 

This  use  of  sire  is  not  noted  in  the  MHG  dictionaries.  Benecke-Miiller- 
Zarncke  quotes  sire  vmnt,  but  states  that  "  bei  den  attributiven  Adjectiven 
findet  sich  s^e  nicht."  Tristan  583,  2552, 11531, 5877,  are  examples  of  sire  with 
attributive  adjectives. 

Bechstein  makes  no  note  of  this  use  of  the  word  in  the  vocabulary  of  his 
edition  of  the  Tristan,  and  only  a  passing  reference  to  it  in  a  note  to  line 
9027,  the  sixteenth  time  the  word  occurs :  "  die  wdren  gesliffen  sire  scharph  unde 
wahs;  gesliffen  ist  aufzufassen  als  adjectivisches  Participium,  nicht  als  reines 
Particip.,  das  folgende  scharph  ist  Adj.  nicht  Adv.  zu  slifen  und  sire  ist  Adv. 
zu  scharph,  nicht  zu  gesliffen." 

Bechstein  apparently  takes  sire  in  this  connection  here  as  a  matter  of  course. 


76        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

1828  ;  stre  wunt,  244:4: ;  Heinrichs  Buch,  ^  gar  s^re  bitter^  1166  ; 
s^re  snel,  1466  ;  s^re  wol,  1514,  2188  ;  s^re  freudenriohe,  2380; 
Br.  David,  gar  sire  muelich,  p.  12. 


STAEKE. 

Starke  as  a  strengthening  particle  is  to  be  compared  with 
harte,  Modern  German  mdchtig^  English  mighty.  Like  harte,  it 
was  probably  first  applied  to  adjectives  and  adverbs  expressing 
quantity,  distance,  etc.,  and  illustrates  the  tendency  to  associate 
the  idea  of  strength  with  that  of  size.  Besides  adjectives  and 
adverbs  of  quantity,  it  is  united  preferably  with  those  which 
express  an  unpleasant  or  undesirable  quality,  although  it  is  found 
not  infrequently  with  those  of  opposite  meaning. 

Under  the  first  category,  may  be  noted :  starJce  grdz^  Nib. 
2039-1  ;  starhe  breit  und  grdz.  Krone  1227  ;  starke  lane,  Krone 
3114,  Starke  tief,  3315. 

Under  the  second :  starke  leity  Nib.  641-3,  Iwein  3007, 
3240,  Krone  838,  9209 ;  starke  bleich,  Krone  9920 ;  s.  truebe, 
Nib.  843-4;  s.  unvrdj  Iw.  1432 ;  s.  vient.  Nib.  1865-1 ;  s.  wunt, 
Iw.  5463,  5564 ;  s.  wilde,  Krone  5522 ;  s.  wt,  Nib.  1013-2, 
1026-4,  Zw.  Biichl.  149. 

Under  the  third :  starke  frd,  Wern.  Maria  205-32 ;  s.  holt 
Greg.  1652;  s.  wot,  Krone  2841,  2906,  6259,  5154,  5656; 
s.  Uhtey  Krone  5948.  Further  examples  are :  starke  ungelich. 
Krone  981  ;  s.  unmaere,  3170;  s.  ger,  5623  ;  s.  gezan,  Iw.  455. 

It  may  be  seen  from  the  above  lists  that  the  use  of  starke  as 
a  strengthening  particle  is  essentially  Austrian,  and  that  it  is 
very  limited.  The  examples  are  all  from  the  early  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  As  to  Hartmann's  use  of  this  particle,^ 
mention  has  already  been  made  under  the  discussion  of  harte. 

^  This  monument  shows  a  most  varied  and  curious  assortment  of  strength- 
ening particles.  Tlie  older  ones  are  intermingled  with  those  more  modem  in 
such  a  way  as  to  suggest  great  contamination.  For  this  reason  the  examples 
here  found  have  not  been  included  in  the  previous  lists.  They  include :  ^il 
36  times,  wol  34,  harte  22,  gar  15,  s^re  5,  vasle  3,  rehte  2,  billUh  2,  miehel  1,  aZ  1, 
sunder  1. 

*  This  does  not  seem  to  be  a  mere  question  of  editing.  Henrici  notes  no 
variant  readings  for  Iwein. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German.       77 


AL. 

Throughout  this  period,  al  is  generally  used  in  its  literal 
sense,  and  means  altogether ,  ganz  und  gar.  Occasionally  it  is 
found  weakened  in  force  to  an  indefinite  strengthening  particle. 
As  such  it  is  to  be  compared  with  gar,  rehte,  vaate,  which  orig- 
inally indicated  a  state  of  completeness  of  the  quality  expressed 
by  the  word  modified.  Only  occasionally  is  al  found  with 
adjectives  or  adverbs  denoting  any  other  than  an  absolute  qual- 
ity. Such  combinations  as  al  hegarwe,  al  besunder,  al  eine,  al 
geUehe,  al  gemeine,  al  zesamene,  al  ze  mdl,  etc.,  are  the  most  fre- 
quent. That  such  were  not  generally  understood  as  examples 
of  indefinite  strengthening  particles  is  shown  by  the  manuscript 
and  text  confusion  as  to  al.  Frequently  it  is  inflected,  alle,  and 
made  to  agree  with  the  subject  of  the  proposition,  as,  sie  gingen 
alle  gemeine. 

When  this  particle  occurs  with  words  not  necessarily  denoting 
an  absolute  quality,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  writer 
means  it  as  an  indefinite  strength ener,  or  intends  that  it  should 
be  taken  in  its  literal  sense.  It  depends  then  largely  upon  the 
individual  peculiarity  of  the  author,  and  whether  he  is  given  to 
harmless  exaggeration  in  this  way.  The  instances  where  this 
particle  is  plainly  to  be  taken  as  an  indefinite  strengthener  are 
rare.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the  Austrian  popular  epic  and  in 
Parzival.  The  latter  monument  offers  the  greatest  number  of 
genuine  examples.  Compare  al  halde,  127-18,  633-23 ;  al  bldzy 
660-14 ;  al  hUwecUche,  633-28  ;  al  hreit,  739-13 ;  al  ehte,  233- 
26;  al  kurz,  227-10;  al  niuwe,  396-24,  435-17,  530-14;  al 
sanfte,  581-2  ;  al  s^r,  514-19  ;  al  stare,  522-15  ;  al  stille,  358- 
21,  386-28;  al  tr4ree,  822-11,  133-4;  al  vaste,  324-1,  368-1, 
410-20,  553-30  ;  alvrd,  209-25,  286-16,  540-16  ;  alwdr,  210- 
18,  276-2;  al  w;^,  301-8,  457-12. 


78        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 


MICHEL. 

Aside  from  its  more  frequent  use  with  comparitives,  michel  is 
found  during  this  period  in  a  few  instances  as  a  general  strength- 
ening particle.  In  original  meaning  michel  is  similar  to  grdze 
and  vil,  and  like  the  latter,  it  is  a  comparatively  colorless  adverb. 
It  is  doubtless  largely  owing  to  this  fact  that  it  never  came  into 
more  general  use.  Having  nothing  in  the  way  of  special  signifi- 
cance to  recommend  it  as  an  effective  strengthener,  and  the  field 
being  already  largely  occupied  by  vil,  there  was  no  general 
demand  for  such  a  particle.  In  the  transitional,  or  pre-classical 
MHG  period,  scattered  instances  of  this  particle  are  found,  as 
well  as  in  the  monuments  of  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century.^  The  following  have  been  noted  for  the  period  under 
consideration : 

Kudrun,  michel  hdch  unt  stare  65-2,  michel  reht  984-1 ;  Sanct 
Brandan,  michel  ndt,  263 ;  michel  grdz,  1480 ;  vil  michel  groz, 
1558  ;  Heinrichs  Buch,  michel  grdz,  2248 ;  Konig  Hother,  michel 
leith,  3429,  2467 ;  Wolfdiet.  D,  michel  swaere,  vi,  68-4 ;  Altd. 
Predigt.  Wack.  michel  reht,  27-4,  27-63. 


GRIMME. 

Two  Austrian  monuments  show  examples  of  grimme  as  a 
general  strengthening  particle,  the  Nibelungen,  and  Din  Krone 
of  Heinrich  von  Tiirlin.  In  the  former  are  found  grimme 
kuene,  872-311,  2038-4;  grimme  leit,  50-311,  192-1,  620- 
2 II,  641-3 II,  1274-1,  1458-3,  1718-3  II,  1933-2,  2066-3  I, 
2098-3  ;  grimme  stare,  185-4 1,  872-3  I ;  grimme  vient,  1865-1. 

Diu  Krone,  grimme  armstarc,  1292. 

*  Compare  the  citations  by  Kip,  p.  178,  also  the  following :  michel  vreissanif 
Judith  M8D  3-2 ;  vji  michel  lUt,  Lob  Salomon,  MSD  xxxv,  3-4 ;  mihhil  gotlich^ 
Freis.  Ausl.  des  Paternosters,  MSD  lv,  2 ;  mihhil  sSre,  Seq.  de  S.  Maria,  MSD 
XLT,  28;  michel  reht,  Geb.  einer  Fr.  Diem.  376-11. 

Kip's  statement  that  michel  during  this  period  is  found  only  with  reht  is 
therefore  incorrect. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        79 

STRENGTHENING  PARTICLES  WITH 
COMPARATIVES. 

With  comparatives  the  list  of  strengthening  adverbs  is  not  so 
large  as  with  the  positive  degree.  Vil,  michel,  and  verre,  are  the 
most  frequent,  instances  of  gar^  genuoCy  witen,  maneges,  are  rare, 
and  no  others  have  been  noted.  The  reason  for  this  lies  in  the 
nature  of  the  comparison.  What  is  emphasized  in  a  strength- 
ened comparative  is  the  degree  or  extent  of  difference  of  the 
quality  under  consideration,  in  the  things  compared,  and  there 
is  less  room  for  pleasing  epithets  or  striking  figures.  What  is 
sought  for  is  a  word  which  will  express  the  degree  of  difference, 
and  to  this  purpose  the  adverbs  of  quantity  or  extent  are  best 
suited.  As  thus  used  these  adverbs  are  felt  in  their  literal  sense, 
as  adverbs  expressing  quantity,  rather  than  as  general  strength- 
ening particles.  Vil  baz,  michel  haz,  mean  better  by  much,  verre 
baZy  or  wUen  bazy  better  by  far. 

Vil. 

The  most  frequent  strengthener  of  comparatives  during  this 
period  is  vil,  which  undoubtedly  continued  in  use  down  to 
modern  times.  Examples  of  this  particle  are  so  numerous  in 
the  literature  of  the  period  that  none  need  here  be  cited. 

Michel. 

Next  to  vil,  michel  is  the  most  frequent  strengthener  of  com- 
paratives. This  particle  appears  both  as  an  accusative,  and  as 
a  genitive  of  measure.  The  two  forms  are  about  equally  fre- 
quent, and  there  seems  to  be  no  rule  as  to  which  is  preferable 
in  any  given  connection.  Both  often  appear  in  the  same  text. 
Sometimes  this  is  merely  a  matter  of  editing,  though  manu- 
script confusion  is  also  present. 

Examples  of  michel  with  the  following  comparatives  have  been 
noticed  :  m^r  8  times,  baz  3,  bezzere  2,  harter,  Iwein,  2906  ;  lieber, 
Pred.  aus  S.  Paul  134-12 ;  grdzzer,  Liet  v.  Troye  3711 ;  gemery 


80        Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

Mb. 2112-2;  heiliger,  Pred.  aus  St.  Paul  132-26  ;  sanfter,W\h. 
1429-211;  vaster  J  Str.  Alex.  4553;  wunderlicher,  Pred.  aus  S. 
Paul  25-9. 

Michels  occurs  with  :  m^r,  11  times,  baz  3,  wirs^  Bert.  v.  Eeg.  I 
117-35 ;  Liet  v.  Troye  3529 ;  gerner,  Bar.  u.  Jos.  136-26  ;  Freid. 
Bescheid.  59-11 ;  bezzer,  Berth,  v.  Reg.  i  152-23  ;  harter^  Iwein 
4391 ;  elter,  Freid.  Bescheid.  79-5 ;  lieber^  Freid.  Bescheid.  56-2. 

Verre. 

Verre  with  comparatives  is  nearly  as  frequent  as  michel.  The 
following  examples  have  been  noted  :  verre  baz,  21  times,  bezzer 
4,  lieber  4,  hdher  2,  schoener  2,  gerner,  Heil.  Geo.  5353 ;  Marer, 
Erlos.  1258  ;  Under,  Heil.  Geo.  3068  ;  m^r,  Berth,  v.  Reg.  62-34; 
n^her,  Renner  1761;  richer ,  Heil.  Geo.  5320;  sanfter,  Garel 
2476;  swarzir,  Ath.  u.  Pro.  B85;  ungelioher,  Berth,  v.  Reg.  i 
103-37 ;  unschedelioher.  Berth,  v.  Reg.  i  21-6. 

Maneges. 

Maneges  is  found  with  comparatives  in  Gottfried  von  Strass- 
burg's  Tristan,  as  follows  :  maneges  bezzer,  1004 ;  maneges  enger, 
14:14:',  maneges  wirs,  11^4:4:, 

Gar. 

Gar  with  comparatives  occurs :  gar  bezzer,  Parz.  19119 ;  gar 
schierer,  Rosengarten,  266-4. 

Genuoc. 
Genuoc  baz  occurs  in  Parzival,  486-16. 

WlTEN. 

Witen  mire  is  found  in  Jiingere  Judith,  156-27. 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        81 


SUMMARY  BY  DIALECTS. 

A  brief  review  of  the  previous  material,  giving  the  conditions 
during  this  period  by  dialects,  will  now  be  in  place. 

Alemannic. 

Throughout  the  whole  period,  vil  is  the  predominant  strength- 
ening particle.  Signs  of  its  decline  are  evident  however  toward 
the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  these  are  more  marked 
in  Upper  than  in  Lower  Alemannic.  Harte  is  frequent  in 
Lower  Alemannic  monuments  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  gradually  goes  out  of  use  during  the  remainder  of 
the  period,  first  in  prose  and  lyric  poetry,  then  in  the  epic.  In 
Upper  Alemannic  it  disappears  earlier  than  elsewhere.  Gar  is 
known  by  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  gradually 
increases  in  frequency  throughout  the  period,  becoming  more 
popular  in  Upper  than  in  Lower  Alemannic.  S^re  is  found  in 
Gottfried's  Tristan  and  other  Lower  Alemannic  epics  of  the 
early  thirteenth  century,  but  disappears  from  the  literature 
shortly  after.  Genuoc  and  wol  are  used  infrequently  during  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  and  are  practically  unknown  during 
the  latter  half.     Rehte  is  rare  throughout  the  whole  period. 

Bavarian-Austrian. 

In  the  Bavarian-Austrian  poetical  monuments  vil  likewise 
remains  the  predominant  strengthening  particle  throughout  the 
period.  In  the  spoken  dialect  of  Bavaria,  as  indicated  by  the 
sermons  of  Berthold  von  Regensburg,  it  gives  way  to  gar  during 
the  latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  In  Austria  it  doubt- 
less maintained  its  supremacy  even  in  the  popular  dialect  until 
the  end  of  the  period.  Gar  is  found  very  early  in  Bavarian, 
where  it  rapidly  comes  into  prominence.  It  becomes  also  very 
popular  in  the  Tyrol  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century.  In 
Austria  it  is  scarcely  known  to  the  popular  dialect  until  the  end 
of  the  period.     Harte  is  popular  in  Austria  at  the  beginning  of 


82         Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

the  thirteenth  century  and  continues  until  late.  It  is  less 
popular  in  Bavaria,  except  possibly  in  the  north,  and  disappears 
from  the  prose  literature  very  early.  Wol  and  rehte  are  infre- 
quently found,  the  former  during  the  early  part,  the  latter 
throughout  the  whole  period.  Grimme  and  starlce  are  known 
to  the  popular  literature  of  Austria  at  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  but  soon  disappear.  Genuoc  is  rare  through- 
out the  whole  period,  in  prose  as  well  as  poetical  monuments. 

SWABIAN. 

In  the  poetical  monuments  of  Swabia,  vil  is  the  most  common 
of  all  the  particles,  and  shows  no  general  decline  before  the  end 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  In  the  spoken  dialect,  particularly  of 
the  southern  part,  as  indicated  by  the  works  of  David  von 
Augsburg,  it  gives  way  to  gar  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
century.  Harte  is  common  in  the  later  works  of  Hartmann  von 
Aue,  occurring  infrequently  elsewhere.  It  was  probably  never 
popular  in  the  spoken  language  and  disappeared  early.  Gar  is 
found  in  the  works  of  Hartmann  and  increases  in  popularity 
throughout  the  period.  Rehte  and  wol  are  infrequently  found 
throughout  the  whole  period.  Genuoc  is  known  to  the  literary 
language  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  more 
freely  used  by  Hartmann,  i.  e.,  outside  of  rime  position,  than  by 
any  other  Middle  High  German  author. 

South  and  East  Frankish. 

In  South  and  East  Frankish  the  conditions  are  apparently 
not  different  from  those  of  the  neighboring  dialects.  The  evi- 
dence all  points  to  the  late  continuance  of  vil  and  harte,  the 
former  being  predominant  until  the  end  of  the  period,  and  the 
late  appearance  of  gar,  Rehte,  wol,  and  genuoc  take  an  unim- 
portant part,  appearing  in  the  poetical  monuments  only  rarely. 

West  Middle  German. 

In  West  Middle  German  vil  is  the  predominant  strengthening 
particle  in  the  literature  of  the  twelfth  century  but  gives  way, 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        83 

at  least  in  Hessian,  to  harte  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth. 
Harie  is  quite  freely  used  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  becomes 
the  predominant  particle  in  one  monument  (Liet  von  Troye) 
early  in  the  thirteenth.  It  then  declines  rapidly  in  the  epic 
monuments  and  gar  takes  its  place.  No  reliable  traces  of  gar 
are  found  until  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  from  which  time 
it  gradually  increases  in  frequency  until  it  outnumbers  all  other 
particles  at  the  end  of  the  century.  Wol  here  is  rare  until  the 
latter  part  of  the  period,  occurring  most  frequently  in  Elisabeth. 
Rehte  and  genuoo  are  rare  throughout  the  whole  period. 

Thueingian. 

In  Thuringian  the  decline  of  vil  is  not  so  early  as  in  Hessian. 
Before  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  however,  it  gives  way 
to  gar.  Harte  is  here  also  quite  freely  used  at  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  though  in  none  of  the  monuments 
examined  is  it  more  frequent  than  vil.  It  declines  rapidly 
throughout  the  latter  half  of  the  century,  disappearing  first  in 
lyrical  poetry  (Heinrich  von  Morungen,  Heinrich  von  Meissen). 
Gar  is  found  in  lyric  poetry  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  gradually  increases  in  frequency  until  the  end,  when 
it  appears  as  the  predominant  particle. 


STRENGTHENING   PARTICLES  IN  THE   DIF- 
FERENT CLASSES   OF  LITERATURE. 

In  the  foregoing  discussions  several  things  have  been  assumed 
concerning  the  different  classes  of  literature,  and  their  relation 
to  each  other  in  the  matter  of  diction.  This  was  for  the  purpose 
of  locating,  if  possible,  the  different  usages  as  to  strengthening 
particles  on  the  MHG  field.  It  will  here  be  in  order  to  state  in 
a  more  connected  way,  what  has  already  been  either  directly 
referred  to  or  taken  for  granted,  and  show  what  bearing  the 
study  of  these  particles  may  have  on  the  subject. 

An  important  question,  when  a  given  expression  is  found  in 
any  monument,  and  especially  in  the  case  of  a  word  used  as  a 
general  strengthening  particle,  is,  where  did  it  come  from,  or 


84       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German, 

where  is  it  at  home  ?  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  answering 
such  a  question  are  in  many  instances  formidable.  The  greater 
part  of  the  literature  of  this  period  is  poetical,  and  shows  a  style 
and  diction  more  or  less  removed  from  that  of  the  spoken 
dialect.  When  a  certain  expression,  therefore,  is  found  in  a 
monument  of  this  kind,  the  first  thing  to  be  determined  is 
whether  it  is  there  because  it  is  current  in  the  spoken  language 
of  that  part  of  the  country  in  which  the  monument  originated, 
or  whether  it  is  merely  a  part  of  conventional  literary  usage, 
handed  down  it  may  be  by  general  literary  tradition.  What  in 
one  monument  may  be  a  mark  of  local  dialectical  coloring,  may 
be  the  direct  opposite  in  another,  and  indicate  a  tendency  on  the 
part  of  the  author  to  sacrifice  local  usage  and  conform  to  a 
supposed  classical  standard. 

Of  the  different  forms  of  literature  of  this  period  the  religious 
prose  may  be  considered  the  nearest,  in  the  matter  of  diction,  to 
the  popular  dialect.  Its  purpose  is  to  appeal  to  the  people,  and 
in  it,  if  anywhere,  words  and  expressions  which  are  actually 
current  may  be  expected  to  appear.  Even  here  however  phrases 
and  formulas  would  often  find  lodgement  and  remain  long  after 
they  had  disappeared  elsewhere,  and  this  might  apply  to  a  class 
of  expressions  as  unconscious  in  their  use  as  strengthening 
particles. 

Next  to  the  prose  monuments,  the  best  place  to  look  for  hints 
as  to  local  usage  would  be  lyrical  poetry,  or  the  early  popular 
epic.  Lyrical  diction,  though  marked  during  this  period  by  a 
certain  conventionality,  is  in  general  much  nearer  the  current 
spoken  dialect  than  the  diction  of  epic  poetry.  This  class  of 
literature  responds  more  readily  to  popular  taste  and  fashion. 
Expressions  are  introduced  more  easily  from  the  popular  speech, 
and  forms  which  have  gone  out  of  general  use  are  not  retained 
so  long  as  in  the  epic. 

The  popular  epic,  especially  in  its  earlier  stages  of  develop- 
ment, that  is,  before  it  was  overshadowed  by  the  foreign  or  court 
epic,  would  also  reflect  with  considerable  accuracy  the  word 
usage  of  the  current  spoken  dialect.  The  element  of  local  color 
is  here  strong,  and  although  this  class  of  literature  is  largely 
conservative,  and  develops  a  standard  and  tradition  of  its  own, 


Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German,        85 

this  tradition  is  based  in  the  first  place  no  doubt  upon  current 
local  usage. 

The  farthest  removed,  in  the  matter  of  diction,  from  the  cur- 
rent popular  speech,  is  the  court  epic.  This  comes  in  part  from 
an  effort  to  write  in  a  language  free  from  dialectical  peculiarities 
and  suited  to  the  cultured  classes  of  all  parts  of  the  country^ 
partly  from  the  direct  influence  of  one  literary  work  upon 
another.  The  court  epic,  after  having  once  set  up  a  standard  of 
word  usage,  is  the  most  conservative  of  all  forms  of  literature. 
Expressions  and  formulas  once  in  fashion,  continue  here  long 
after  they  have  become  obsolete  in  the  spoken  language,  or  even 
if  they  have  never  been  actually  current  there  at  all.  The 
results  of  direct  imitation  of  the  older  and  more  famous  works 
are  plainest  in  the  monuments  of  the  middle  and  latter  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  where  expressions  and  formulas  from  the 
writers  which  by  this  time  have  become  classical,  are  carried 
along  in  the  epic  diction  and  curiously  intermingled  with  similar 
phrases  fresh  from  the  current  language  of  the  people.  This  is 
equally  true  of  the  later  popular  epic.  By  this  time  the  foreign 
epics  had  become  well  known  and  very  popular,  and  the  chances 
for  the  success  of  a  native  German  legend  were  all  the  greater  if 
it  contained  frequent  allusions  to  the  works  of  such  famous 
writers  as  Hartmann  or  Wolfram. 

This  relation  between  the  various  forms  of  literature  of  this 
period  is  shown  very  clearly  in  the  use  of  the  different  strengthen- 
ing particles.  During  the  period  under  consideration,  vil  and 
harte  are  both  in  process  of  becoming  obsolete.  The  former,  as 
has  already  been  shown,  shows  the  first  signs  of  decline  in  the 
prose  monuments  and  lyric  poetry,  and  remains  longest  of  all 
in  the  epic.  Harte  is  found  very  rarely  in  prose  and  in  the 
lyrics  during  the  period,  but  remains  in  the  epic  until  the  four- 
teenth century.  In  the  early  Austrian  popular  epic  it  is  there 
as  a  part  of  general  popular  diction,  in  the  later  epic  it  remains 
as  a  part  of  traditional  usage  for  this  class  of  literature.  Gar, 
on  the  other  hand,  which  at  this  time  is  just  coming  into  promi- 
nence, appears  first  and  strongest  in  the  prose  monuments  and 
in  lyric  poetry,  but  makes  its  way  into  epic  poetry  but  slowly. 
Not  being  current  in  certain  parts  of  the  Austrian  field  during 


86       Strengthening  Modifiers  in  Middle  High  German. 

the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  it  did  not  enter  into  the 
early  popular  epic  of  this  dialect,  and  its  presence  in  the  later 
popular  literature  is  due  to  outside  literary  influence.  When 
this  particle  is  found  in  any  of  the  early  monuments  from  the 
other  parts  of  the  MHG  field,  however,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion as  to  where  it  comes  from.  Unlike  harte  and  vil,  gar  is 
not  yet  a  part  of  the  traditional  literary  language,  and  if  used 
at  all,  it  must  be  as  a  part  of  the  poet's  own  dialect.  Rehte^ 
during  this  period,  as  likewise  for  Modern  German,  although 
a  polite  expression,  has  a  decidedly  popular  color.  With  few 
exceptions,  the  monuments  showing  the  highest  percentage  for 
this  particle  are  lyrical,  next  in  order  comes  the  popular  epic, 
while  the  formal  court  epic  shows  the  lowest  of  all. 

The  history  of  the  different  strengthening  particles,  as  traced 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  shows  that  they  originate  in  the  popular 
dialect,  and  are  taken  up  into  the  different  classes  of  literature 
with  varying  degrees  of  readiness.  After  the  prose  literature, 
they  appear  first  and  strongest  in  lyric  poetry,  and,  for  the  early 
period,  the  popular  epic,  the  fully  developed  court  epic  being 
the  least  ready  of  all  to  take  up  a  new  expression  of  this  kind. 
Before  any  recognized  standard  of  form  or  diction  had  been 
developed,  the  foreign  or  court  epic,  as  well  as  the  early  popular 
literature,  would  show  to  a  certain  extent  current  local  usage  as 
to  these  particles.  Even  here  however  the  feeling  that  the 
work  was  written  for  a  wide  circle  of  hearers,  and  for  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  would  prevent  the  use  of  any  expression  of 
this  kind  that  was  distinctly  provincial,  or  that  was  not  well 
known  over  the  country. 

When  such  expressions  become  obsolete,  they  disappear  first 
in  the  prose  literature  and  lyric  poetry,  and  remain  longest  of 
all  in  the  epic.  They  constitute  there  a  part  of  what  is  dis- 
tinctly poetic  diction,  dignified  because  it  is  old  and  quaint,  and 
pleasing  because  it  furnishes  a  bond  of  connection  with  the 
literature  of  the  past. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


I  was  born  in  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  April  8,  1869. 
Bemoving  to  Illinois  and  later  to  Iowa,  I  received  my  prepara- 
tory education  in  the  high  school  at  Gladbrook  in  the  latter 
State.  After  a  few  years  spent  in  teaching,  I  entered  Cornell 
College  in  1892,  graduating  in  the  philosophical  course  there 
four  years  later.  I  served  then  for  two  years  as  principal  of  the 
township  high  school  at  Fairfax,  Iowa,  and  in  1898  came  to 
Baltimore  to  pursue  advanced  courses  in  German,  French,  and 
History  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.  In  January  1900  I 
was  awarded  a  University  scholarship,  and  during  the  year 
1900-1901  I  held  the  fellowship  in  German. 

At  this  University  I  attended  courses  under  Prof.  Adams 
and  Dr.  Ballagh  in  History,  Drs.  Armstrong,  Rambeau,  Ogden, 
Wilson,  and  Brush,  in  French,  and  Professor  Wood,  Associate 
Professor  Vos,  and  Dr.  Baker,  in  German.  To  all  of  these  I 
wish  to  express  my  hearty  appreciation  of  the  many  favors  they 
have  shown.  I  am  under  especial  obligations  to  Professor  Wood, 
whose  lectures  and  seminary  courses  have  inspired  a  love  for  the 
study  of  literature,  and  to  Associate  Professor  Vos,  whose  help- 
ful criticism  and  advice  have  made  this  study  in  the  older 
German  field  possible. 


87 


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